A black new life
by Graficcha
Summary: DoC story, Nerocentered. spoiler alert! What if Nero got resurrected after Omega...will he be able to adapt to his new life, and will Vincent and co. accept him? And Shelke's got business with him, too...
1. beginnings

disclaimer: I do not own FFVII:DoC, Squeenix does.

A black new life 

He was unconscious.

Lying under ton of rubble, pinned to the ground by rocks that had dropped down on him, Nero lay sleeping.

Spit out by the lifestream, which hadn't been able to handle the G-substance that oozed from his soul, he was now doomed to existence again. Only, in his current state, he wouldn't survive very long.

When his body had formed again in the ruins of Sector Seven, the darkness that remained in his body had taken away some of the stability of the rubble, and a whole pile of rocks had tumbled down onto him. Now he was half-buried under the steel-stone rocks, his left arm crushed, his right leg and arm broken.

His metal wings were sprawled on the floor, but luckily enough only slightly dented. The pointy edges twitched as his mind was resetting.

Somewhere in Edge, at the new WRO base, Shelke stormed inside Reeve's office. The Spanish-type leader turned around from his many computers with which he controlled Cait Sith, and cast the huffing frail girl an inquiring look.

"What's wrong Shelke?"

Shelke breathed in deeply to regain her breath, then stammered some almost inaudible words. Reeve only understood the parts 'Lifestream' and 'Lifeform' out of her ramble. When he looked a bit weirdly at her in his usual friendly, suggestive manner, Shelke sighed and repeated her words again.

"I just returned from the lifestream, and there was something wrong...there's been activity near Midgar, and Yuffie's picked up signs of life there...I'm worried, Reeve..."

Reeve looked at her, folded his hands in front of his chin..."Send someone over there...if you can reach..."

"Vincent, yeah...he's already there. Chaos sensed something there."

Mouth still open in mid-sentence, Reeve turned his words around and went quiet.

"...OK. That's good... I'll send a backup there anyway, who knows what it might be this time."

Shelke nodded. "Can I..." "No. You can't go. Please stay here and try to find out more through the Stream, if it's not too dangerous right now. Ok?" Reeve answered.

Shelke looked at her feet. She wanted to help Vincent, but Reeve was right, she'd waste time anyway by going to Midgar first...the gunman 'd probably already be there...

Midgar, entrance to sector seven+

A red cloak whooshed through the deserted waste. Vincent gracefully made his way through the rubble, following his instincts, senses on high alert. His gun ready in its holster, Vincent had nothing to fear, but the memories of battles still lingered, and the presence he felt was somehow familiar...he didn't dare lay his finger on it, but he expected trouble.

At least, he had his cellphone ready this time.

The sun was beginning to set already, and the place was bathed in a reddish, soothing sunlight, calming his senses and pleasing Chaos inside him. As Vincent advanced, he became more and more aware of the strange aura that was located in the corner of one of the huge ruined buildings, but the closer he came, the less of a threat it seemed.

His black hair was blown in his eyes by a soft evening gust, warm from the remaining heat of the metal everywhere, and his pupils shrank and widened every time he crossed through a shadow. He advanced in utter silence, only sometimes a soft 'ching' could be heard resonating over the place when his tip-toed boots scraped a rock.

It was one of these evenings he'd be able to stay up all night, and _live_ now that he was redeemed of his past...it felt good to be free.

He skidded to a halt when he entered the building Chaos had directed him to. Now stepping into the darkness slowly, he spotted a glint of polished metal in the far corner of the room, illuminated by the glow from the sun that shone through a broken window.

Vincent's heart skipped a beat. His keen ears caught a weak sound of a breath, and his sixth sense stood on edge by the aura of darkness there.

When after five minutes, nothing happened apart from the breathing slowing to almost stopping and then starting again, Vincent approached the rubble.

His eyes widened when he followed the metal bar and finally saw the prone form of his former enemy and even, if only for a moment, ally, Nero.

TBC

Ok, it's short, but it's kinda the default chap. Later chapters are longer... and getting longer every time...


	2. memories

disclaimer: I do not own FFVII:DoC, Squeenix does.

_character elaboration in this chappie, Nero wakes up (momentarily) _

chapter 2 

Vincent stepped deeper into the darkness and closed the gap between him and the half-buried Nero. He could see the strange metal wings, and the neon blue-marked bars that generated the energy needed for flying. The hands attached to the tip, that more than equalled Vincent's own claw in creepiness, seemed to be intact, and the fingers that had once held the heavy guns twitched ever so slightly. Flashes of his battles with the labile gunman zoomed past his inner eye.

Vincent had been too busy trying to stay alive to have paid any attention to the overall appearance of his enemy. After all, he wasn't the person to judge by looks, since he himself was considered an oddity by his allies...people couldn't stand looking in his red eyes, and his claw unnerved them greatly.

Only his closest friends...yes, he considered them his _friends_ now...only they had gotten used to Vincent's oddities, and they respected him and his feelings, as he respected theirs. Even Yuffie had showed enough sympathy once in a while to leave him to his own thoughts, but now that wasn't really necessary anymore.

After the whole ordeal with Omega, he had been able to settle down and live an almost normal life alongside his group, with the people that had supported him in his times of need...and now, he faced a person again that he owed both his and the world's life to, and someone he would never have thought capable of making such a selfless decision.

He knew that Nero had been driven by his love for his brother, and the belief that his brother was the strongest, and the one he owed his loyalty to. Vincent had never imagined that the constantly restrained Nero would still have the strength to break free from the chains that bound his will to his brother's, and that he'd actually betray Vice for the greater good. The decision must've ripped him apart...but Nero had strong mind, capable of withstanding great tension. Otherwise he'd never have been able to survive the amount of G-substance injected into his body, and he'd have succumbed under the task of living with the restraint and adapting to his artificial extra limbs.

And he could fight...oh yes, he wouldn't go down easily when the ones he loved were at stake...

He hazily remembered the trance of the fights, the pressure of the constant exhaustion, the tingling feeling Nero's darkness caused...even if he was immune to its effects, the sheer power of the dark aura was overwhelming.

And then when he had nearly killed Shelke…little did the spiky-haired ex-psycho know that she'd already forgiven him a thousand times, and little did she know how he had beaten himself up after he had regained his senses.

The two Zvet shared a history of partnership, of companionship even. Shelke, not being as naïve as she looked, knew all too well that being Nero was hard, and she'd kind of warmed up for him.

If only he hadn't been so attached to his memories of his brother...Vice could've cared less about his younger brother, and he never paid a lot of attention when his sibling was in need...which he was in quite often, especially in the beginning, when he had to adapt to his new body... 

To be able to use his wings as arms and try to live without using his normal arms that much, since the restraint he wore tied them to his shoulders, he needed time to get used to them. 

And that was exactly what Rosso and Vice didn't want to give him...he had struggled to keep up, not to be a bother, but the redhead and the leader only made sneering remarks about his clumsiness when he knocked things over or lost his balance, and besides from Shelke and sometimes Azul, who wasn't as tough when he was in an environment he liked, he had never gotten any support. 

There were times when he didn't eat for days, because he couldn't manage to get his arms free, and he hadn't mastered the finely tuned movements of his mechanical fingers yet. 

Once, Shelke hadn't even bothered trying to loosen the restraint, because the darkness had lashed out quite a bit the days before and she didn't want him to accidentally absorb anything. She had sat down next to him and spoon-fed him, and he hadn't even been aware of it...wherever his mind drifted, he was gone. 

During those hard months, the Lifestream-diver had supported Nero without attracting too much attention. She gently nudged him on, she rearranged his 'room' underneath the ruined city so that it was more functional for him, and whenever they were together, she just tried to be nice to him. 

Her petite figure was a little shining light in the darkness, and, apart from Rosso and Vice, who thought she was weak, most DGS had grown to liking her, even if they regarded her as a superfluous addition to the team, only useful for as long as they were down there and until she had found the ancient materia... 

Azul, who had always been gruff and rowdy, allowed himself to become a bit more mellow around her, and he had to admit he liked it when Shelke'd fall asleep in his lap late at night on duty. He was fond of her in a beast-like manner, and he respected her. 

When he'd noticed that she was pretty concerned about 'their freak', he tried to give Nero a break, too, and he stopped (at least tried) being annoyed at the sometimes completely mental gunman. The huge man even felt sorry for him sometimes...once he had slapped the black-haired man on the shoulder as a sign of support. 

Ok, he had only managed to smack him down to the floor, but when Nero had hastily scrambled up again, using his wings to prop him up, he had cast Azul a strange look, as if he was taken by surprise by such a kindly meant gesture. He had then wobbled away on unsteady, thin legs, having completely lost has balance, but something had illuminated his dark eyes for a moment. 

Azul never really knew if he'd done a good thing, but for some reason, Shelke had smiled at him shortly after the incident for no apparent reason, so he assumed that Nero had considered his whack to be _nice_. Well, it _had_ been, but with Azul one could never be sure. 

At least Shelke had expressed her appreciation for the gesture. Nero stayed distant as ever, trying not to be a burden, but he seemed more at ease around the giant man from that moment on.

For him, Shelke had been his rescue in the darkness he was in...he'd never forget how nice she was, he felt as if he didn't deserve it...But at least he ate enough when she was around, so that he had enough energy to keep functioning –or trying to function- normally. 

Without her, he was sometimes as helpless as a pet, like when his joints jammed because he used them too roughly, or when he was disoriented because of a lingering haze of darkness over his eyes, and Vice and Rosso seemed to often neglect their pet. 

As the first year passed, however, Nero had almost completely adapted to his new situation. He could almost function normally, only that the movements his arms usually did were now carried out by his wings, and that sometimes took a lot of space. He had learned to control his powers more or less, and he never took off the restraint suit. 

His normal bodily functions were more efficient after the G-injection, so he wasted nothing from his food, so that he never sweated, and his digestion was perfect, too. (He tended to consider himself very lucky that he didn't have to worry about bathrooms anymore...)

And now, after he had sacrificed his own damed body, using the cursed substance he had in abundance to impair Omega's defences to give Vincent at least a _Chance_ to defeat the weapon, he was back here, in the same condition... 

Well, not really the same...when his spirit had entered the Lifestream, the green gently flowing mass had tried to absorb the G-substance that poured out of his soul, to purge the black energy, but to no avail. 

With the mass-killings of lower DGS and the disruption that Omega had caused, the Lifestream had become oversaturated with G-substance...to prevent poisoning itself, the stream had abruptly isolated Nero's spirit and thrown it out, back to the living world. 

He had about half of the amount of G-substance left, but that was enough to drench the corner of the room in which he was pinned down to the ground in a deep-black haze.

Vincent observed the body in front of him, or at least he tried to identify the body parts he could see through the rubble. 

When he was pretty certain that Nero wasn't getting up soon, and that the dark red pool of sticky goo wasn't oil or kerosene or anything, he stepped onto the pile of rocks and metal, careful not to step on the half-buried injured gunman, and heaved the first pretty large boulder off Nero's body. His brows furrowed when he saw the damage he had taken. 

His wings were mostly ok, but Nero's arms weren't in a good shape...they were loosened from the restraint, and the left one was crushed beneath a rock, whilst his other one was bent at an awkward angle at the lower arm, stuck between metal bar and a piece of jagged concrete. 

His right leg seemed to be damaged, too, and he had a cut on his forehead that had ripped his face mask a bit. His chest was probably bruised up, too, maybe some broken ribs, but through his flexible bodysuit, no alarming bumps or dents were visible. 

Vincent slowly bent forward, and took a firm hold onto the stone that had Nero's left arm pinned down. He then slowly lifted it, careful not to drop it again or shift around too much. He strained his back in silence, and the power of Gallian beast eventually backed him up a bit. 

When he could finally roll the block away, his pale cheeks had gotten a healthy red tint from the heat. The sun was still shining through the window, and its dark orange rays warmed the place. His red cape was uncomfortably warm, but Vincent wiped his brow and went back to Nero. 

The arm didn't look good at all...it was completely crushed, and broken in he couldn't tell how many places...in one place, the bone of his upper arm jutted out, sticking through the black suit and the deep wound drenched the floor. Vincent couldn't help but look slightly pained at the sight. 

Now, the spiky-haired ex-Zvet was almost free...Vincent only needed to liberate Nero's stuck right arm...but he'd have to either shove the rocks out of the way, or take his arm and wrench it free. Either way, it was gonna hurt...

Vincent hesitated no longer, and stepped over to Nero's stuck limb. He knelt down, an then slowly pried his fingers, flesh ones as well as metal digits, between Nero's arm and the stone. Grasping firmly, but not squeezing too hard, he took a breath and jerked his arms upwards, trying to keep the bones he held more-or-les stabile.

The effect was instant and effective. Nero's dark, disoriented eyes shot open, and his whole body tensed. 

The sharp blades on his wings scraped over the floor when his mind signalled frantically and shortcutted the nerves that connected his extra limbs, and he let out an anguished yell that was unmistakably a raw cry to release the pain that coursed through his body. 

Vincent had expected a reaction like this, but his heart was racing none the less. He had to restrain himself from jumping up and releasing hold of Nero, but he managed to stay put. 

When the cry had died down, Nero seemed to be completely awake. Awake, not aware of anything. 

His chest rose and fell with the rapid breaths he was taking, his eyes widened in shock, his mouth definitely open beneath the mask that covered it, gasping for air. His left arm was limp from is shoulder downwards, but his right one was tensed to overstretching his muscles, only hurting himself more. 

Vincent gave him time...time to overcome to sudden pain, time to release the tension stored in his body. The darkness was in full motion now, circling and twisting in anguished jerky movements, but the red-eyed ex-Turk could care less. 

In the first flash of consciousness in Nero's eyes, he recognised emotions, and it had convinced him that Nero had been redeemed, freed from the past, but left in his former body. 

Nero's breath steadied. Still seeing nothing, he closed his eyes to a half-shut position and let himself wake up. 

Vincent would no longer regard him as an enemy, unless Nero himself chose to be seen as one. 

They had time... 

Nero had time. Vincent would give him time.

After all, he himself had taken almost 35 years...

R'n R, please, 'cuz I believe I'm the first one here who writes about Nero, an' I really wanna know what you think...the story's worked out for at least three more chappies, andeuh..should I pair him up?


	3. getting out

disclaimer: I do not own FFVII:DoC, Squeenix does.

Tenshi Fuzion: ...hehe, you made me laugh XD. Cloud will certainly be surprised, but Vince's not gonna _ask_ if Nero can stay. Vincent just makes up his own mind, I think XD

Wolven Falls: Warned you w. Well, for a good character elaboration, I can't really leave out that much, I think >.> there's just too much going on characterwise.

DuoAkira: Thanks for the review! Glad you like it so far...I'll try to update regularly, and expect the next chappie soon, 'cuz this one's more of a ..well, I don't know... next chap I'll bring in the rest o' the cast

chapter 3: 

The dark turbulent haze had mostly subdued now...it had lashed out when Nero had been rather roughly awoken from his comatose sleep, but Vincent wasn't bothered by it, and he had chosen to remain silent and give the injured ex-Zvet time to regain his senses.

He remembered all too well how surprised and shocked he had been after Lucrecia's and Hojo's experiments on him...he nearly shuddered at the memory.

Lost in thought, he stared at the now calmly breathing but trembling body before him. A weird sensation shook him awake, and he found a pair of dark eyes, that glowed eerily dark orange in their depths, staring back at him. He heard Nero's heartbeat speed up, and again he tensed, Vincent felt him try to flex the muscles in the arm he was still holding.

"Relax..." Vincent spoke. The word seemed to reach Nero, and he went half-limp again. Vincent wondered if he might've sounded a bit too much as if he had ordered the gunman to cool down, since he responded so immediate. He knew it was hard to 'relax' when told to.

Anyway, he was sure that he had Nero's attention now. Only, he didn't quite know what to say. 'are you ok' would sound pretty stupid, and he wasn't even certain that Nero knew the full extent of his injuries.

Instead, Nero gave a good opening for a conversation.

"What..." From under his mask, it was a bit muffled, and his voice was raspy and weak, but at least, he managed to say anything at all. "Vincent..." Again, when he realised that he was facing a former enemy, his reddish eyes went wide with fear.

This time, Vincent tried to sound a bit more soothing.

"Easy...easy there..." he said, his low voice holding a slight hint of friendliness. "I will not harm you. You're not my enemy."

Nero too kin his words, and slowly his frightened expression settled into a confused and thoroughly exhausted one. His eyes that had just burned with the fiery hellish glow, now stared at Vincent, glimmering with pain and unspoken questions.

"Where... are we?" he whispered, and then broke into a dry cough. He felt as if he'd been in a desert for months, but his thirst was nothing compared to the agonizing pain that coursed through his body at even the slightest movement of his non-artificial limbs.

The gunman was positively shocked to suddenly feel Vincent's hand on his chest to help him overcome the fit. He nearly choked, but eventually, Vincent had the room to answer Nero's question, speaking a bit more loudly to be heard over Nero's heaving breath.

"We are now in the old Sector Seven...it's been a week or two since the DGS were scattered after Omega's defeat, and now we're cleaning up the mess they left."

This time, it took a long while for Nero to process that information. Vincent could see his thoughts racing, the new info meant a lot to him.

"So you...defeated ...it?" he asked at last, his voice trembling slightly. "Is it over?"

Vincent nodded slowly. Something broke inside Nero...and a glimmer of hope fluttered.

His brother was dead. Vice was gone, and wherever he was, he was free. He'd never see his brother again, not in this lifetime. He knew the Lifestream would not let him die anytime soon, his spirit had seen the pollution he had caused...

But the world was free now, too...there was no reason anymore to fight...no reason anymore to do things he did not want to do. He wouldn't have to whose between Vice and the world again.

With a renewed strength, he looked at Vincent. How he admired the man...he had given his life to give him a chance to stop Omega, and he had done it. No, even better, he had survived.

And that brought him back to his own case...he still lived, and he knew damn well why. But did Vincent know? It didn't matter, the thought of him and the red-eyed ex-Turk not being enemies anymore opened up a lot of new perspectives for him...he never even considered that he might've been lying.

But Vincent wasn't lying. And he was hoping that Nero would believe him. When he saw the determination return in Nero's eyes, he knew he had overcome the first barrier of the task to get Nero alive out of Midgar...

The man needed to want to live. Vincent sighed inwardly. Now the really hard part began.

He knew that anything he'd do to move Nero would hurt him, and he wanted to spare him as much pain as possible. It seemed that Nero himself began to realise this, too, as he began to very slowly twist his upper body, apparently to free his wings that were still pinned to the ground. When he felt the heavy weight, he involuntarily grunted.

Vincent got the hint and carefully laid Nero's right arm on the man's chest, and then stepped over to his side and lifted a rock off the left wing's main joint, that seemed to function as a hand.

Immediately, Nero pulled the appendage closer to his body. It scraped over the floor and through the small debris a bit, but that didn't seem to bother him at all.

The right wing was a bit more of a challenge, as it was almost completely covered by a flat, heavy-as-hell piece of concrete from the ceiling. It wasn't crushed or broken, only pretty stuck from the elbow down to his 'hand'.

Nero slowly turned his head over to his right, wincing as he felt his left shoulder protest at the movement, and looked at the block of inert material. He heard Vincent sigh, but this time he didn't wait for him to remove the block on his own, but he took the chance to see how much he had left of his G-substance...

Before Vincent had touched the block, a haze of darkness covered it, strands of the black-purple stream whirling around it and sometimes forming little hexagons and twinkles of darkness.

He looked at Nero, and he saw that he was causing this. He only didn't know what the man was trying to do...

His question was answered soon, when suddenly, the darkness retreated back inside Nero, and his look at Vincent signalled to continue what he was doing. Vincent looked confused for a moment, but went to lift the large piece anyway.

He noticed surprised that it wasn't that heavy at all...oh, he understood now.

"...lowered the density...can't do more right now..." Nero whispered.

Vincent smiled faintly and nodded. Nero had lowered the thing's weight by absorbing separate particles inside the stone, but leaving the whole thing intact. It seemed that he was either too weak to control the darkness very long in his current condition, or that his dangerous aura had lost most of its destructive power, Vincent suspected the latter.

Anyway, as soon as the concrete was off his other wing, Nero retreated that one, too.

_Must be pretty uncomfortable, lying on your back with those things sticking out of your shoulders..._ Vincent mused.

"Ready?" he asked, trying to sound more confident than he was right now. He expected difficulties, a long night of trying to reach Edge, and screaming...lots of screaming. Holy Bahamut, he hated broken limbs...they tended to be more painful than absolutely necessary.

Nero looked in Vincent's red glowing eyes, and then out of the window. He expected pain, too, but the sight of the orange glowing sunrays seemed to lift his spirit a bit. Under his mask, he bit his lip, and then nodded without looking at his new ally.

Vincent decided not to wait any longer. He kneeled down on the completely calm Nero's right side, and locked onto is eyes, his expression telling him that it was for real this time. Nero only looked back, eerily silent, readying himself.

When Vincent made sure he wasn't going to take the Zvet by surprise again, he shoved his normal hand under Nero's legs, and his glove under his back, feeling the metal joints of Nero's wings jut out of his shoulders and sensing them squeeze themselves against his metal arm.

For once, he was glad to have such a protection, because he didn't feel like getting his arm crushed by the quite powerful limbs. He'd probably get his fingers stuck between the hydraulic joints, too.

When he had a good grasp on the slender man, making sure he wasn't putting too much pressure on his leg and arm, he lifted him.

Nero didn't do as much a twitch when he was lifted off the floor, but Vincent heard him breathing rapidly, and after the first few moments, he couldn't suppress a low, pained moan. What was visible of his face paled to a deathly white, and droplets of sweat started to trickle down his cheekbones. A shiver ran up his spine, a futile attempt of his body to release the twisting pain he felt.

Again, Vincent waited. He held the man close to him, and he felt the heat that radiated off him. _He's probably getting a fever..._

Nero was incredibly light, when one considered that his wings were quite massive. It was almost as if he hadn't been fed very well in Zvet. However, his body was quite muscular, and he didn't look weak or anything, or at least not when they had fought.

He was strong enough to withstand the pain, and he was still capable of keeping his wings off the ground to keep them from dangling to the ground and hindering Vincent.

When Vincent felt that his vulnerable cargo was ready for transportation, he slowly set his body in motion, and carefully made his way through the door, stepping out into the dimming sunlight. A small smile crept up Nero's face when he felt the sun his body, and even if Vincent couldn't see it, he felt a bit better out in the open.

The soft wind cooled his burning body, and the sound of the great emptiness in the once grand city calmed his senses. He only felt Vincent move, and he heard his boots tread on the ground. They travelled in silence, slowly advancing through the ruins of sector seven, the place where so long ago, it seemed, many destinies were formed...

R'nR please, cuz' they keep me going : ..next chappie, more of Cid, Yuffie, Cloud!


	4. getting IN

teh reviewers: thank you all sooo much! thanks to you guys I can keep going, and I'm already working on the next chapter.

disclaimer: I do not own FFVII:DoC, Squeenix does.

A black new life 

chapter 4 

Cid fumed. He was angrily chewing on his cigarette while navigating one of his many Sierra's through the quickly darkening sky.

Just _why_ did they have to call _him_ to go check out some weird life sign in Midgar! He had planned to take it easy for a while now that most of the mess was cleaned up, have a romantic evening with Shera, but nooo, that Reeve-guy, that stupid cat had to call _him_ to back up mister lonely, Vincent Valentine.

At least Cloud and Yuffie accompanied him...well, he'd have been happier with Barret or that new ex-Zvet girl Shelke. Smart kid she was. He had grown fond of her, in a way. She was intelligent and sweet, and the little copper-haired lass had been one of the first to get through to Vincent's soul.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help Vincent, but Reeve had to admit that he'd given the WRO plenty of support already...on the other hand, his former team-mate had saved the world again, and pretty much on his own, so Cid didn't want to just abandon him now. Who knows, red-eye might be in trouble...

Even if the pilot's noble instincts triumphed over his yearning for a comfortable life, he was still pissed. No one was to blame for his foul mood, but there was this something in the air that promised trouble...and he hated trouble.

For goodness' sake, he was getting old! He deserved to retire, he had had his share of life experience by now...and oh, he could already hear his allies' complaints when he told them he'd quit. Or in Yuffie's case, the incredulous yelling and the hyperness that would follow.

But that was a thing he'd argue about later with himself. Right now, he was on a job, and he'd do it, whether he liked it or not. But damn, Vincent'd better have a GOOD reason to go there alone.

Cid squinted his eyes when his plane shot past the sharp line that separated the night from the day. He could see old-Midgar blinking in the red sunlight not very far away. It'd soon become dark there as well, so he'd better hurry.

Vincent neared the some huge ruins and pillars on the outskirts of the city. Nero hung limp in his arms, but still tensing his wings, breathing shallowly. A big dark red stain had formed on his left upper arm, where the bone jutted out, but he didn't seem to feel much of his injuries...yet.

As the gunman calmly advanced, his shadow stretched far out in front of him, mingling with the long shadows of rocks and ruins. He looked behind him once, and he saw the sun setting behind the buildings.

He didn't know that by now, a plane full of weapons, soldiers and medical supplies was heading towards him, he only stepped through the rubble, thinking that he'd continue like this until he reached Edge. Vincent was confident that Nero 'd be able to hang on till then, and he knew that he had enough stamina to carry him all the way through the rocky desert.

He was pretty surprised to suddenly see one of Cid's airplanes zoom over him, make a sharp 180 degree turn behind him and slow down to land not far from him, on an open spot in the middle of sector seven. For a moment, his mouth fell open, and he had to be careful not to drop the injured Nero.

He stood completely still, not quite sure of what to expect. A few hours ago, Shelke had called him to inform him of some weird life signs here. By that time, he had already been here, Chaos' sixth sense had told him the same a couple of hours before, and he had told the girl so. After a short pause, she had only replied with a faint 'okay', and then she'd cut the connection.

She should know that when he needed help he'd call her or Reeve, and right now he didn't really need help. Vincent always felt a bit uncomfortable when it came to asking things, and he didn't want to bother anyone when he could handle it on his own.

But anyway, the airship was there, and he could already hear the sound of a very familiar voice yelling 'Heeellooooo!' and the rapid steps of someone dashing trough the ruins.

"Heeeey, Vinniiee!" a certain kunoichi came jumping over the rubble, somersaulting over a fallen wall, ran some more and then finally skidded to a halt near Vincent. Yuffie panted, bending over and leaning on her knees, and then looked up at the still motionless gunman, grinning like mad.

"Heheh...are you alright?" she gleefully asked. "You could've given us a call, you know."

When he didn't answer, indicating that he was indeed alright, she bounded up to him, planning to embrace him in one of her favourite choke-hugs, but Vincent hurriedly backed away a little, afraid that the ninja'd hurt Nero in her eagerness to cling to him.

Yuffie stumbled forward, and nearly fell flat on her face, when someone pretty strong grabbed her arm and pulled her up again. Smiling a bit awkwardly, she addressed the man "Gee, thanks Cloud...that'd have been embarrassing."

Cloud didn't respond, instead he looked at Vincent in shock. When Yuffie followed his stare, her mouth fell open. "Waaait….who's THAT? He looks familiar, but…Hey! That uniform!.

Vincent nearly sweatdropped...there was a reason why he didn't even _think_ of calling for help...but well, he had planned on getting rid of his habit of never informing his friends about what he was doing anyway, so he might just as well begin now.

Before Cloud or Yuffie could start asking questions, Vincent glared at them to get their attention. His red eyes gleamed for a moment when the sun finally set, covering the four of them in a blue half-darkness, only illuminated by the Sierra's light. He started explaining.

"Cool down...yes, Yuffie, he is Nero of the pitch-black darkness, from Zvet, but he is no longer our enemy." The ninja recoiled a bit, frowning. "Whaddaya mean, Vinnie?"

Now Cloud added his two cents, too. "Yes, Vincent, what makes you so certain about that? Why is he here? Is he the life sign Reeve picked up?" The spiky blonde looked from his ally to Nero and back. His brows were knitted together, and it was obvious that he didn't trust the matter, as he was already reaching for his infamous buster blade that was strapped to his back.

Vincent was in an uncomfortable position. He couldn't hold Cloud back if he were to attack, and he could try to explain now, but there was little chance that they'd understand right now, and the he'd have to start all over again in the airship.

"I'll explain later. Please trust me on this...I'll take full responsibility if he causes trouble." he said lowly, hoping that Cloud would let Nero inside the ship for now. The injured man needed medical attention as soon as possible, and now that the sunlight was gone, the ex-Zvet had started shivering.

Cloud still wasn't really convinced yet, but Vincent had never been wrong when it came to these things, and Nero looked too weak to be able to try anything funny, anyway. The mercenary sighed warily.

"Okay, then...but I'll keep an eye on him. I hope I can trust you on this. Remember I won't show any mercy if he tries to do anything..." Cloud said ominously. Vincent nodded. He knew that the blonde didn't feel like admitting one of Vincent's enemies into the ship, where he might harm his friends.

It was good that at least Tifa wasn't in there, so that the swordsman didn't think that the one person most precious to him would be in immediate danger. But he was still very concerned...

Yuffie took things more lightly. "If ya say so, I think it's allright, Vinnie. But he's creepy...are you really sure he's not gonna..."

Vincent shook his head. "No, he won't. I can't give you any guarantee, but I promise, I'll tell you everything as soon as we've taken care of him...even if you see him as our captive, the WRO treats his captives very well, so I guess Reeve won't object that we give him some medical attention..."

Cloud thought about this as well, and in his mind, the idea of regarding Nero as a prisoner of war seemed acceptable enough. "Come in alright... Cid's waiting." he responded gruffly while turning around to face the ship.

Vincent smiled faintly, and Yuffie bounded off to the airplane. He followed Cloud to the entrance, through the last few metres of ruins, where a flood of warm light greeted him. Inwardly, he was glad that he had been able to pursue Cloud without too many difficulties, and he was even gladder that Nero hadn't woken up yet..

When he stepped into the light, Yuffie gasped. Her big brown eyes widened, and when Vincent looked where she was looking, he realised that she hadn't quite realised how badly injured Nero was. Also, it was the first time she really got to look at him up close as she hadn't had any chance to 'meet' him yet, and she seemed pretty appalled by what she saw.

"...w-why is he so...his face...and those things..." she pointed at Nero's mask and wings nervously, the fact that she had seem him before apparently didn't answer her questions.. Vincent sighed. He remembered that she had been equally scared of and interested in his red eyes and his claw, and he hoped with all his heart that the ninja would have learned enough from his own reactions that she made people like himself and Nero pretty uncomfortable.

Although he had to admit that Nero was a degree _weirder_ than he was. Again, he simply stated that he'd explain later. When he got an equally suspicious look from Cloud, however, he felt obliged to remind them of the reason why Nero was altered.

"It were experiments, okay? Remember Hojo?...Nero's a similar case, like me..."

When he heard those words, Cloud suddenly looked at the injured man differently...he forced himself to look past the 'enemy', and he also vaguely remembered that it had been Nero who had given his life to help Vincent destroy Omega. The gunman had mentioned it somewhere in the middle of the whole chaos after the weapon's defeat.

Cloud looked at his boots in shame...who was he to judge, when he forgot about that so easily...

"It's ok..." Vincent interrupted his thoughts. "Just trust me, he's on our side now."

Cloud nodded, and Yuffie, who had gone through a similar, if only a more naïve, inner conversation, smiled sadly. "Sorry, Vin...I was rude..."

Vincent gave her a gentle look to show her that he wasn't angry at all. Her realising the wrongness of her behaviour was more than he had ever hoped for. The fact that the two of them weren't against Nero anymore lifted his spirits a bit. Maybe things would turn out for the best.

At last, he entered the ship and carried his burden to the medical wing, accompanied by a now really bouncy, concerned ninja and the silent, alert mercenary

They didn't meet any soldiers on their way, and Cloud told him that all of them were in their own cabins, trying to catch some rest.

Apparently, Reeve had called them for 'an urgent matter', and they had taken off an hour later. When Cid had neared Midgar, Yuffie had spotted Vincent's shadow from far away, and they had landed immediately. She and Cloud were sent down to investigate, and they'd give a signal when the rest of the troops were supposed to come and help out.

Luckily, there was no urgency that required the soldiers to help, so they were allowed to go back to their quarters and get ready for the night. Most of them had been on this ship for days, because they were called into action almost every day, and most of them simply made the ship their temporary home, instead of going home every evening only to be called in the middle of the night again.

Vincent almost felt guilty for rousing them again, but on the other hand, it had been Reeve's decision, so he wasn't to be blamed for this unnecessary action. Although he was glad that they had come to pick him up...Nero had fallen into a fever, and it was best to get him treated _right_ now.

TBC

...now this is getting long...R'n R to make me a happy writer : ), I won't slack on this one (too much XD)

EDIT: I just found an enormous mistake in this chappie... I wrote it before I knew a few more things about DoC, but that has been corrected now.


	5. getting to bed

disclaimer: I do not own FFVII:DoC, Squeenix does.

A black new life 

Chapter 5 

The steel doors to the medical wing slid open with a soft buzzing sound and revealed a sterile environment illuminated by white and neon-blue lamps from the ceiling of the corridor. Vincent felt kind of dirty when he entered the perfectly clean area, but he shrugged off the feeling and carried on, followed by Cloud and Yuffie.

His red eyes scanned around through his black wild bangs, and when he spotted the door to the ER, he slowly turned inside the room, careful not to slam his cargo into the doorframe.

Vincent blinked a bit in the piercing white light, and then very slowly tried to put Nero down on the table. The man's steel wings clanked against the table surface and jerked a bit.

Nero's eyes shot open, the orange-golden fire dimmed to a faint glow. He looked somewhat dazed, but he recognised Vincent's outline against the blinding light that split his skull.

Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut again, but when he felt his extra limbs touching the platform beneath him, he spread them out to his sides. Vincent laid him down softly, moving ever so slowly to avoid causing him pain.

When he had finally gotten his arms away from under Nero's back, Vincent straightened his back and sighed. He bowed over Nero again, only to see that he had slid away into unconsciousness again. His wings, for as far as metal can be, were limp. The loosely spread hands hung down from his 'wrists'.

Before Yuffie could start investigating them (old habits die hard), someone came running down the corridor.

"I'm coming, just a moment!" a woman yelled.

Mere seconds later, the female, dressed in a white doctor's coat, stepped inside. She had blond, rather short hair, and her purple irises were hidden behind a pair of glasses. "Here I am, sorry for being late...my name's Rairakku Kiiro, call me Raira."

She came closer and inspected the three world-saviours. "So you must be Cloud, and you're Vincent Valentine, right?" They nodded.

Doctor Raira cast a glance at the table, and at the sight of Nero, her look became stern. "Ok, I get it. An ally of yours?" She looked at Vincent suspiciously. Before Vincent could answer, Cloud stepped in front of him.

"Treat him well."

The doctor nodded. "I always treat my patients to the best of my abilities...although I could use a little help here, I guess..." she said, looking at Nero's broken limbs and his metal wings. She was trained to refrain from asking too many questions, but without any information about this person, she might do more bad then good.

Vincent pushed Cloud aside gently. "I'll stay here." Raira nodded, trying to hide that she was intimidated by Vincent's blood red eyes by stepping past him and rummaging through the neatly placed medical supplies to find whatever she needed.

Cloud nodded, too, and left the room, dragging Yuffie long with him. The ninja cast a last look inside, and yelled at Vincent .

"If you need us, we'll be upstairs with Cid, 'kay?" Vincent hummed a reply before turning to Nero again.

This was going to be a looong night.

O-o-O-O-o-o

It was near midnight when doctor Raira, with a lot of help from Vincent, finally finished patching the Zvet up. There had been a lot of little problems that hadn't made it a simple task, one thing being the swirling darkness that hung over Nero's body.

In the beginning, Raira had naively tried to swat it away by waving her hand through it. When that didn't work, she lowered herself to try and blow it away, but before she could do anything weird, Vincent stopped her.

He didn't even have to say anything. The medic blushed.

"Sorry…I guess I'll just have to work in that fog…?"

Vincent could only nod warily.

The next problem was Nero's tight restraint suit. At first sight, it didn't seem to have any buttons, zippers or anything. Again, Vincent had to stop Raira from acting rashly (she had already gotten a scalpel to cut it open), and eventually they figured it out:

The neon-blue lines seemed to function as some kind of energy-canal, and with the proper use of some of Chaos' powers (Raira looked pretty amazed), Vincent traced them, starting with Nero's right arm. The tissue split in the middle of the line, and eventually, the doctor could get to work. Vincent discreetly moved into a corner to give her some room.

When her hands approached Nero's skin, uncovered for the first time in ages and as a result of that awfully pale, darkness lashed out. Raira gave a startled cry, and Vincent was immediately beside her again.

He could tell that the aura's absorbing power had indeed diminished, and Nero's current condition wasn't exactly adding any strength to it. It wouldn't absorb anything just yet.

Now he only had to convince Raira of that, too. Well, she didn't know what the darkness did anyway, but like any sane person, she wasn't going to _try_ if it harmed her.

Vincent never told anyone how he convinced her, but people who knew him could tell that it had involved a lot of fast spoken explanations, a piercing glare and an overwhelming 'I-know-all-about-this'- confidence in his voice.

In the end, Raira did her job extraordinary well, with a professionalism that could only prove the fact that the WRO functioned efficiently and devotedly.

She only had to ask for Vincent's help twice, once to help her find an artery to inject anaesthetics into (she couldn't see a damn thing in that haze), and the second time because she needed someone to help her set Nero's broken leg.

When she had finally finished stabilizing Nero's limbs (she had to work on his crushed left one as if she had to completely reshape it out of clay), she turned to Vincent.

'I've done everything I could…We'll need to keep his fever down, but he'll recover…although I have to say he's lucky he's got those wing-things…'

Vincent looked at her. But he knew what she was going to say.

'…he'll never be able to use his left arm properly again, and he'll have to keep both of his arms fixed for at least two months. His body's not in a good condition, so it'll take longer to heal…'

Vincent nodded sternly. He wondered how Nero'd deal with this…he couldn't really imagine being in his position, because the Zvet might as well throw a fit as shrug it off, saying he doesn't need arms because he's already used to using his wings to make up for it.

Vincent was interrupted from his thoughts when Raira called him again.

'Hey…umm, mr Valentine, you can zip him up now.'

The gunman looked confused at her.

'I mean, do your trick again...I figured that it's best to keep him in his suit, since it keeps the...darkness in, and the material is perfect. It's flexible enough fit over the bandages, and it gives extra pressure…'

Vincent had to credit her for her thinking, and he moved over to Nero again, to 'zip him up', as the doctor called it. Very carefully, he closed the neon lines up again, first Nero's right, then even more carefully his left arm. For his leg, Vincent did the same, he had found that the gunman's boots had a similar system, only without the lines.

Now that he had been treated, Nero looked almost as if he was completely okay. Only the bloody torn part where the bone had jutted out on his left shoulder proved that he was injured. And the fact that he'd hardly be able to move when he woke up, of course.

Vincent sighed, as he had done quite a lot of times this day.' I assume I take can him to one of the spare rooms now, where he can wake up…'

Raira, who had slumped dosn on her chair at her medical desk, looked up at him sleepily. In an unladylike manner, she yawned and stretched. 'You go do that…I'll chack up on him tomorrow morning again…' she looked at her wristwatch, and corrected herself. 'no, I'll come by in a couple of hours, I'll find out where you put him.'

Vincent nodded. 'Good.' He picked Nero up again, and Raira didn't protest. Usually, she'd have yelled furiously and she'd have ordered Vincent to go find a hospital cart to move 'her' patient, but she knew Nero was in good hands.

She still thought that mr Valentine was a creepy, morose man, but he was friendly, helpful and patient, and he lacked the gruffness most warriors and soldiers had. He was strange, different, but he had a way of making people see that he was only dangerous when he needed to be. The fact that he _was_ dangerous seemed pretty obvious, however.

Unaware of the doctor's musings, Vincent stepped into the still brightly lit corridor. Before he left, he turned to Raira again.

'You should get some sleep…I'm very grateful that you were willing to help him, and you did an outstanding job…I thank you, on Nero's behalf, too.'

Raira smiled. 'Yeah, it's my job, you know…now get him into a bed. I wouldn't want him to get really ill…and thanks for your help, too. I guess that without you, I'd still be wasting my time trying the get his aura away. At least I now know my subject…'

She meant it well, but she didn't see Vincent's gaze turn hard for a moment at the mention of the word 'subject'. While mumbling goodnight, Vincent sharply turned and strode out of the corridor, into the dark hallways of the ship.

O-O-o-O-o-O-o-oO

Almost mechanically, he made his way to the private dormitories (reserved for the captain's guests), close to the cockpit. In the complete darkness, he carried Nero, who was still completely drugged by anaesthetics and painkillers.

For some reason, Vincent didn't know whether to be relieved or disgusted. At least he had managed to get him out of the medical ward before he woke up…and he was glad that it wasn't necessary to fill him up with tubes and wires and whatnot.

Nero would wake up in a safe environment, with nothing that could unsettle his labile mind. Maybe he'd be able to face the world again, then.

Not only his body had to heal, but his spirit needed to find its balance again. Vincent knew that Nero was determined enough to live, but that didn't deter the ex-Turk from wanting to spare him from any unnecessary tension and uncomfortable situations.

He guessed Nero had had his share of them just like him…

…Finally, Vincent arrived at his room. Without even looking for a light switch, he found the bed in the dark. After he had managed to make Nero twitch his wings enough for Vincent to put him down, he settled himself on a chair to keep watch over the resting man. Blindly, he threw his cape in the general direction of the door, and it clung to the little hook on it.

Finally, he was in a room again that was his, and not the basement of the ShinRa mansion. He knew it from the in and outside by now…

;;vwvwvwvwvwv;;

In the ship Cid captained, they all had their personal space, just like on old times. His old friend had made it a habit to always be ready if his former mates should decide to pay his ship a visit.

It was a selfless, friendly act of hospitality towards his allies, almost desperately inviting them. Maybe he hoped that this habit would encourage them to keep coming by even after the battles were over.

Cid was undeniably getting old. He still has the rowdiness of his prime years, the ones he spent working on the Tiny Bronco, and the energy that made him such a fierce fighter, but ever so slowly, Vincent could see him longing for peace.

If it was needed, he'd immediately jump into a fray with a vigour that never failed to baffle young soldiers, and he'd never let his comrades down, but still…

Lately, he'd more often slump down in his seat in the cockpit after a fight, he'd sigh more, and sometimes he'd look at Shera 's picture with a look of deep love in his eyes. He was getting a bit weary, most of the 'fun' was gone, and he wtarted wishing for a more settled life.

Ever since ShinRa, his life had been a rather hectic chaos. He always handled it well, and when the incident with Shera had made him more or less unemployed, he had even longed for danger.

But now that he was getting a day older, the extra trouble he had with Sephiroth's aftermath and Reeve's WRO was getting to him. He refused to complain or let his friends down, and he helped them more than willingly, but lately he was torn between his desire to give his aid and be with them and his feeling that it might be time to retire...the thought hurt him deeply, but he couldn't neglect it.

Besides, he had achieved more than he had ever imagined…he might not have flown to the stars, but he was the main captain of a whole fleet of planes he himself designed! And he helped save the world…three times now?

As Vincent mused his musings, the sun was already beginning to rise again. The ship was asleep, Chaos felt no activity. Only Vincent himself was awake, watching over a man in need, over a possible ally.

He should stop worrying about Cid being tired…

He'd rather be concerned about how he'd keep a very energetic man-ablaze from roughly waking up Nero in a few hours.

TBC peeps

R'n R please...I think I'm gettin' a bit off track. Hints, anyone?

my reviewers: thanks dudes XD just keep reviewing an' I'll getto the end someday., andemm...'G-action' sounds pretty suspicious, ne? anyway, I might bring him in, but not for a while then.


	6. getting friendly

disclaimer: guess what... I don't own FFVII:DoC

_Fire Gemron:_ much thankies for the reviews each time! this one's for you! and _Wolven Falls_, for you too! I hope you're not annoyed at the pace my updates come... Gomen nasai, I'm really bad at disciplining myself O.o'

Chapter 6 

While Nero was resting on his bed, Vincent did what he could do the best: thinking about the past.

If he wanted to let Nero stay, he'd rather know as much about him as possible. Even if he had witnessed a great deal of Nero's most tragic moments, he still had to settle them for himself, because he felt that he couldn't quite grasp every aspect of what had happened…

A fact: Nero had used his last remaining strength to stand up to his brother, and he had used his dark powers to infest Vice, so that Vincent would have an opening to destroy Omega.

Another fact: Vice had been the one who had killed him, by ramming his hand into his stomach, like a knife almost. Vincent wasn't sure why the fierce warrior had done such a thing, but since he couldn't be sure if it had been Hojo or Vice himself, he'd never come to a certain conclusion.

Nero confused Vincent to no end, even if he didn't show it. He was only a hundred percent sure about one thing, and that was that Nero was not an enemy anymore.

While the thoughts rumbled inside his head, Vincent observed the sleeping man.

In the ER, his body had caused a lot of trouble…the wings, the darkness oozing from his pores, his weird body suit. Vincent remembered now that he had seen Nero let it melt away into his skin…at that time, he had had some strange tattoos on his arms, too. When Vincent and Raira had examined him, they were gone. He hadn't noticed, probably because he was focused on other things.

Maybe an after-effect from getting rid of a part of his enormous amount of G-substance, who knew...he'd ask Shelke about it when he saw her again. Or maybe if Nero was up to it, he'd ask him himself. Vincent knew how awkward it was to have people ask you about your 'special' body. It was a personal thing after all…

After a while, he found himself stricken with an emotion he had rarely experienced for someone…

Pity.

Vincent, the one who had been trained to kill mercilessly, the one who had never received any pity from the ones who made him into what he was today, he felt sorry for Nero.

The frail man had been altered, forsaken by the world, and by his brother. Then he had been neglected, feared and shunned, only to get to the tragic end of his miserable life: having to choose between his love for his brother and the life of all living things in the world that had cast him off.

On one side: his own feelings, betrayed again and again, but still firm, loyal and pure; an undying devotion to his brother.

On the other side: the remorse of having left behind the world of the normal people, the responsibility of having enough power to destroy it all, and the hatred deep inside against the society that had wronged him.

And in the end, his caring for his brother had been forcefully shattered…Vincent had been there when Vice had ultimately forsaken his younger brother, along with the rest of the world…or rather, Hojo had.

Nero had to face the fact that his nii-san was long gone, lost in the web of deception and mind games of Hojo. And after Vice was defeated, Nero's spirit had sought him out…Vincent vividly remembered how Nero had driven Hojo away, and how he had embraced his older brother in a final goodbye hug before departing into the lifestream.

…only to be thrown out of it again, weak and with his body wrecked.

Yes, Vincent had to admit he pitied Nero.

He only knew the feeling because Lucrecia had shown it to him, and apart from her, he'd never accept it from anyone. The gunman had a lot of experience concerning vengeance, remorse and loneliness, but this one was new to him.

Vincent couldn't recall when he had started feeling this way…maybe from the first moment he had encountered the restrained suffering almost-human being. Or maybe from the day the world was finally safe again. He didn't know.

Now that he was thinking about it…he had felt a little voice inside his head that tried to stop him from defeating Nero in battle…But it didn't help much right after Nero had nearly killed Yuffie in his embrace of darkness. Vincent shuddered. …if he hadn't been in time, he could have lost the ninja forever.

But then, Nero had only been trying to protect his brother. In his attempt to stop Vincent and Yuffie from harming Vice, he had swallowed the kunoichi in his then extremely powerful dark haze. Vincent had rushed in, and he had shielded her from the darkness that had tried to eradicate her.

She had been scared stiff…strange to think how willing she was to let him into the ship…

Vincent shot out of his half sleep. _That's not right!_ he thought. _It's almost as if she doesn't remember what happened there…she looked at him as if she'd never really met him… _

Vincent looked blankly into the darkness…something was off here. He hadn't felt anything coming from Nero, so he couldn't have modified her memory. Maybe something in the lifestream…? '…Yuffie…damn it…'

After this observation, Vincent started pacing around in the still dark room. He was angrily pounding himself up for why the hell he hadn't noticed before, and his boots clanked noisily over the iron floor. He was too withdrawn to notice two glowing orange dots slowly lighting up in the darkness.

They watched his every move for a long time.

'She didn't remember…' Nero's trembling voice hushed through the silence.

Vincent spun around.

'What?'

'She...that girl…she didn't seem to remember…that I…'

Vincent blinked in confusion.

'I was awake when you joined them…barely…' Nero said softly. He shivered.

Vincent took his chair and sat down on it next to the bed. He suppressed the urge to look away from those fiery, now intensely burning eyes, instead he settled himself and relaxed.

'How are you feeling?' he asked.

Nero took a deep, shaking breath. '…I believe I'm in no position to complain, but my shoulders are numb…and my arms hurt…'

'I guessed so. Do you want me to help you sit up?' Vincent asked, not at all offended by Nero's honesty.

'..that'd be kind…' Nero closed his eyes for a moment, as if he was still dazed.

Vincent sat up from his chair. He hesitantly tried to find a place to put his hands, and eventually he shoved both his normal hand and claw under Nero's back and heaved him up.

Almost instantly, Nero doubled over. His arms were paining him to no end, and his shoulders suddenly snapped out of their rigid stiffness with a dull _snap_. With a tormented 'Ah!', Nero went limp. Vincent held him up straight when he nearly slid out of the bed.

The injured man's breath was fast and shallow as he pulled himself together.

'…hhh…hhh…I'm…sorry…'

'What for?' Vincent asked calmly.

'For…causing you…trouble…' Nero blinked his eyes in the darkness, willing the pain to subside. He hadn't quite realised how bad the damage to his body was. Slowly, he regained control over his body. He tested his wings, careful not to touch Vincent, and he used them to hold himself more or less up straight. Vincent let go of him while he shakily found his balance.

'You're not more trouble to me than anyone else…' Vincent said. After a long silence, he added

'You know that you'll have to become independent again, do you?'

Nero watched him closely from the corners of his eyes. '…Yes, I understand that…if..'

'You can count on my support, but you must realize that you'll never be able to use your left arm again.'

Nero went silent again. Vincent hid the fact that he felt bad about having to say this as he waited for response. He'd rather go for the short pain then to keep Nero in the dark about what was happening to him.

'…I see…then I will live without it.' Nero stated calmly.

'You seem to take it rather well…'

Nero slowly turned his head to face Vincent, and he winced when he jarred his shoulder.

'I _am_ supposed to be dead…I can't die again, so I'll have to deal with it…' his eyes flashed in the darkness filled with regret. _Why didn't I just die…I don't want to be a bother again…_

Vincent patted him on his good shoulder softly. 'Like I said before, you're not alone in this…as long as you don't harm my friends, I'm on your side.' Nero's eyes widened slightly.

'And I know you don't want to hurt them.'

'Vincent…thank you…'

Vincent's answer came out like a reflex.

"What for?"

Nero fell silent for a heartbeat. "Well…you know...for giving me your trust…I never thought anyone could…"

"Could look through that haze of yours? I have to admit people will have some trouble trusting you, but that why I'm here to back you up a bit. All beginnings are hard." Vincent said solemnly, remembering his own experiences.

Nero hung his head in contemplation. "A beginning…yes. I only hope I can… restrain myself…" somehow it sounded as if he was talking to himself, slowly sliding away into his despair again, fearing his powers and what they could do.

Vincent leaned forward and looked into Nero's eyes, a hint of well-hidden glee gleaming in his equally intimidating red eyes. Nero straightened up as he recoiled slowly. When he was paying full attention again, Vincent reminded him of a little detail.

"You _do_ remember that the Lifestream has purged away a good deal of G-substance, yes? You don't have to worry about accidentally sucking anything into your Abyss anymore. It's still powerful, but nowhere near lethal. Just give yourself some time to heal, to get used to being alive again, and you'll soon have full control over the darkness." he soothed.

"I don't know…I'm afraid that it might come back… or…get worse, and maybe..." Nero half-stammered, not quite daring to hope for the best.

Vincent whispered a rather uncouth word that involved ox dung, and sharply turned his back to Nero. He contemplated for a moment in which Nero was at a loss for words, before he faced the bed again.

"I can help you, but you'll have to stop being such a pessimist. You'll never fit in like that, because you don't _allow_ yourself to fit in. You'll have to be careful, with powers like yours accidents can happen, but assuming there's no point in worrying that you might absorb more G-substance." Half-closing his eyes and shifting his vision to his lower right, Nero listened, wincing under the reprimand. He knew it had been stupid to be worried, but still…

Vincent hoped he wouldn't have to explain this to his friends as well… especially Cloud was quick when it came to imagining worst-case scenarios, as far-fetched as they were improbable. "You were oversaturated… the substance was almost forced into you. Why would a wet towel become wetter in a dry environment? Especially if it was never supposed to be that wet?" Vincent rationalised to him, trying not to resort to a simple 'believe me, you'll be okay'.

Suddenly, an odd feeling rose in Nero's chest, and it bubbled all the way to his lungs and midriff. Before Vincent had really finished, Nero giggled softly.

The gunman had meant to stop anyway, but his brow wrinkled in confusion at the sound though. It was a soft, rapid giggle, somewhat unrythmic, but not all that unpleasant. Quietening down quickly after realising what he was doing, Nero blushed heavily, ashamed for being rude, in his opinion, by laughing at the person he clung to now. Vincent, of course, asked him what the matter was.

"You.. I… I never thought of myself as a wet towel…" there was that giggle again, shy, a bit nervous and held back with all the might Nero could muster right now. His ribs began to ache again.

Vincent replayed his speech in his mind, and found he had indeed picked a rather odd given as a comparison. Now that he gave it some thought, he found there were many more examples he could have given that sounded much more intelligent. When he saw the matter from Nero's point of view, he had to admit it was rather… funny.

o-o-o-o-...

When Cloud and Yuffie came into the hallway, dragging along a dishevelled and grumpy captain Cid, whom they had urgently woken up as soon as the sun had broken through the mountain ridges, they were greeted by a sound they had never heard before.

They stood in amazement as the three unlikely partners watched Nero giggling softly and earnestly on his bed, and Vincent chuckling amusedly along with him.

TBC for sure...might take a while though

R&R please, and please tell me what you think of my story, hints, critiques, suggestions, anything is welcome :-)


	7. getting acquainted

Here we go again! much thanks for the reviews, everyone! You really encourage me to go on.

again, the disclaimer: I do not own FF:DoC, and I'm not making money of writing this.

Now, this chapter turned out pretty long while I was typing, so I had to split it up, trying to follow my 2000 words a chap' rule... it's still much longer. In this part, a major turnaround is planned. Nero's finally beginning to live again. Read and see, and tell me what you think of it.

Chapter 7: getting acquainted 

When the giggling ceased abruptly, a rather awkward silence filled the room and hall. Cloud was confused, Yuffie clueless, Nero embarrassed to breaking point and Vincent fell deathly quiet as he waited for the situation to resolve itself. A lack of sleep and being faced with the task of introducing a former enemy didn't mix all that well. Only Cid's brain seemed to continue operating.

"Wait a second… weren't you the guy who messed up my plane?" the captain asked gruffly, eyeing Nero with an uncertain look.

The poor Zvet didn't quite know what to say at first. After all, it _was_ true… he had (among other things) abducted one of Reeve's Caits, he had , as Cid had said, 'messed up the plane' by fiddling with the machines with his dark aura, and he had trapped Shelke inside his Abyss when she had confronted him in the machine room. If it hadn't been for Vincent saving her, the girl would have died there.

--he remembered it as if it happened mere moments ago…

With a shudder, he suddenly realised the extent of his crimes: the people he had abducted to gather enough souls, the orders he had given while his brother was comatose, how viciously he had fought to protect something malicious growing deep inside the lifestream, and how wrong he had been in his judgement concerning the destiny of the planet. To him, and many other's, Gaia didn't deserve to survive.

Omega was salvation.

That time, he had infiltrated into Cid's ship to wreak some havoc, and when Shelke had come to stop him, he had been pretty mean to her. He had been almost delusional, as if he didn't remember what Shelke had done for him and it was strange to think that he had actually been smug about his recent 'accomplishment'-trapping more souls into his Abyss, rendering the crew members defenceless against the death wishes that howled through the darkness.

They weren't worth enough to be spared… only the Zvets' goal, to resurrection of Omega, counted. The people had thrown away their lives when they had refused to investigate the calls from the depths of Midgar… Deep inside, a smouldering hatred consumed the Deep Grounds' souls, aimed towards those who had chosen to ignore the calls, the cries of pain, the screaming that had echoed from the depths beneath Midgar for so long, trapped and unanswered. Had they been released in time, if they had been given freedom before they had to take it by force, maybe…

But at that point, in the ship, having sided with their opponents, Shelke had been his enemy, especially when she had drawn her weapons to fight him.

Nero had been surprised, deep inside shocked, even, but he hadn't thought she'd really attack him. Only when the petite warrioress lunged for him with her charged weapon, he had recoiled, more out of reflex that out of awareness. When Shelke had actually managed to land a hit on him, he had felt a twitch of pride, but when the prickling pain from his abdomen caught up with him an instant later, he became truly dangerous.

After he had made some distance between them by jumping out of the way, Nero had pulled his guns, using his flexible wing-arms and shot a few rounds, aiming with tremendous skill. Shelke's energy shield prevented her getting ripped to pieces by his bullets, and now, the Sable was truly grateful for that, even if then, he had been annoyed. So annoyed that he had loosened his restraint, and unleashed the darkness of the endless Abyss upon her.

All those memories caught up with him upon hearing Cid's accusation, and Vincent observed with some concern that the injured Zvet began to withdraw within himself. Almost unnoticeably, Nero's aura bristled around him, as if to shield him from harm.

Truth to be told, Nero was terrified. Cid might be an age-class higher than himself, the muscular, solid captain still had an intimidating quality, and acting on instinct, Cloud had his Buster sword at ready, it's sharp edge reflecting the light of the hall into the half-lit room. On top of that, Nero had never before felt so utterly useless, unable to defend himself. Only his Abyss could save him now, but if he'd have to resort to that…

Before things could get ugly, Vincent stepped between him and his allies.

"He won't do it again." he said matter-of-factly.

Cid looked at him, unaware of the tension he had caused. He hadn't meant to accuse Nero of anything, but he had asked out of concern for his current plane, and because he had never met the man in person, so he could only assume that this Nero was the one who had fucked up his motors. Vincent's simple answer relieved his concerns a bit, but still…

"Why can't he tell me that?" he asked, looking past Vincent's cloak at Nero, who had, despite his injuries, managed to huddle himself into the far corner of the bed with his mechanical wings. Squirming with anxiety, pain and discomfort, Nero returned the look with wide frightened eyes, and the intense burn somehow hit a weak spot inside Cid's heart.

Vincent, sensing he was in the way and no longer needed to protect Nero, moved out of the way, but he stayed close by. He cast Nero a reassuring glance, which the gunner caught when his vision shifted nervously to his 'protector'. Yuffie blinked at the exchange, somehow feeling Nero's fear when she looked at him.

"It's okay… We're not gonna eat you." the ninja grinned, elbowing Cloud in his ribs when the chocobo-head didn't cease frowning sharply. Nero shot her a surprised look, and somewhere inside he felt a need to thank her. Cid was satisfied to hear him utter his first words in his proximity.

"Th-thank you…" then he turned to Cid " And..I.. I promise I'll never do any harm to any of your planes again…"

"Well, now that we have that sorted out, _we_ need to have a talk…" Vincent said before anyone else could say more things that would only upset Nero. He addressed Cid, Yuffie and especially Cloud, and motioned them to leave the room. Nero was left behind with a look that said: 'you'd better try to stay calm now, okay'.

For a moment, Nero was stunned to be left alone just like that, and he felt incredibly lonely. Only then a wave of exhaustion washed over him. Along came a heightened awareness of the nagging pain in his arms and leg, and the need for a replenishment of energy. He didn't dare to fall asleep though…

Vincent lead his allies away from his and Nero's room, and finally settled near the section that was used as a living- and meeting room, attached to the kitchen. A little further was where the lookout started. In the middle of that dome-shaped, glass room, Cid piloted his plane. Right now, they were still on the ground. It'd be cruel to wake up a whole regiment of WRO soldiers at five a.m. in the morning.

Cid lit himself a cigarette while Cloud and Yuffie sat down on the polstered benches along the sides of the walkway to the pilot's cabin. They often stayed there, away from most of the commotion in the ship, and relatively near Cid's common residency, in the low hall behind his spot in front of the steer. At least, Barret, Cloud, Reeve and Tifa did. Yuffie tended to hang around the bathroom somewhere, and preferably far away from the kitchen. But the plane wasn't flying, so she had no problem now.

When their attention was on him, Vincent started telling them about Nero. Beginning his story with the role Nero had played in Deep Ground and telling them about the nature of his powers, Vincent laid the base of the soon-to-be relationship between Nero and his allies. He explained his condition to them, ignoring Yuffie's 'oh, poor him', and then proceeded to assure them that there was no danger to him anymore. While Yuffie was immediately willing to accept Nero, Cid had to be convinced a bit, as well as Cloud. However, after a few minutes of Vincent's well-thought-out speech, the idea began to grow on them. By the time Cloud had again given his consent, and Cid had been told at least six times that no, Nero would _not_ damage his precious ships anymore, Vincent felt that he had given Nero a good head start.

He had sat down as well, and through Yuffie's cheerful chattering about how she'd tell Nero that he was way welcome, he dozed off. Pleased with himself and glad that he could be of any help for a fellow enemy of Hojo, and someone who had, in a weird way, saved the world, Vincent listened to his friends. He smiled inwardly about Cid, who, once again, began lecturing Cloud about the workings of his plane, and Cloud trying to stop the older man's waterfall of words with weak 'hey's and 'wait a minute's.

Yuffie was still rambling, until suddenly she stopped talking abruptly, and uttered a soft scared whine. Vincent, Cloud and Cid were immediately ready for danger and spun around, facing the open hall behind them. They were greeted by the most peculiar sight of the last few weeks.

In the middle of the hall, hanging from the water-and oil pipes, Nero dangled, clinging to the ceiling with the hands on his wings.

He was looking around nervously, his eyes darting from the left to the right, until he caught sight of Vincent.

"t-…there you are!" he exclaimed, but was stopped from saying more when Vincent strode up to him.

"What the hell are you thinking!" Vincent asked him, with a hissing tone. "You can't just go and…"

This time Vincent was interrupted.

"I'm sorry! I just… I didn't…" Nero took an exhausted breath and sighed "I didn't want to be left alone there…"

Vincent blinked, and this time Yuffie approached Nero, who seemed to be quite comfortable, hanging from the pipes on the ceiling. His injured arms were held immobile in his restraint, and he let his legs dangle about ten inches above the floor.

When Yuffie suddenly appeared right under his nose, he backed away quickly, his artificial hands ticking softly against the metal pipe work as he took a hold a bit further away. The spider-like quality of the motion frightened Yuffie a bit, and even Cloud felt a bit uncomfortable, but the ninja overcame her first fears of his rather alien way of moving.

"Were you lonely there?" Yuffie asked. "I should've thought of that… Vinnie never thinks about stuff like that." she grinned. "Well, I'm glad you found a way to get here…" Yuffie eyed his wings curiously "at least we can really meet you now. Vincent told us a lot about you, you know." She leaned on her heels and thought about Vincent's thirty-minute briefing for a moment.

"You got hurt pretty badly I heard…I mean, I saw, when he brought you here.." she said, staring right into Nero's face with a small worried frown. "I think Vincent's right, you're not supposed to be hanging around with us just yet."

Only Cid smirked at the 'hanging' pun.

"I mean, are you feeling okay? Doesn't that hurt?" she asked, pointing at the metal appendages that were sticking out of Nero's back. Nero had the time to shake his head, but he didn't get to say he was used to them. Yuffie chattered on, curious and carefree as usual.

Poor Nero could only stare at her in amazement and back off every time she nearly bumped into him with excitement. He was beginning to tire, but he really didn't want to be left out, left behind, ignored…  
That little dark room just didn't feel all that comfortable, he needed to be up and _do _something, anything to take his mind of the worries and sadness that he knew would come. When after fifteen minutes of complete silence and darkness no one had come back yet –Nero knew it was childish to feel that way-, familiar feelings began to creep up to him. Loneliness, fear, the thought of being useless, and the worst thing of all... the absence of someone he could look up to, do his very best for.

In Deep Ground, that someone had always been Weiss…Sure, his brother hadn't often been around to see his younger sibling, but no one could expect 'The Immaculate Emperor' to really care for a tainted being like him. Yet Weiss recognised Nero's potential, and pushed him on mercilessly. When Weiss, or Rosso had other things to do than being concerned over his health, or sanity for that matter, Nero felt hopeless. The worst was indeed

Being ignored.

Now, Weiss was gone, and Rosso would never appear in front of him again, enraging him with her rather respectless tone when talking about his nii-san or torturing him with her merciless sarcasm. Azul would never push him around again, and he would never be a friend anymore, although that relationship had somewhat diminished during the time in which Shelke was absent on missions and Nero was in charge during his brother's long sleep.

Only Shelke remained, and Nero didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive him for leaving her to die in the Abyss…after everything she had done for him, being friendly and considerate, he had almost wiped her out of existence.

When all those memories began flooding him, Nero had tried to find a way to join Vincent, the person he'd have to rely on and the one he'd do everything for, as a substitute for Weiss. After moments of nervously looking around, he had spied the pipes on the ceiling. Before he knew it, he had powered up his wings to float up and attach himself to them. He winced when he felt his blood streaming back into his legs, putting pressure onto his broken right one, but as soon as the nervous fog in his mind had cleared away a bit, he had set out to investigate the ship.

Following the sound of voices and human activity, he had tried to find them, and right when he had begun to worry if he'd ever find them, Yuffie had seen him. And now, the same hyperactive kunoichi was talking at a speed he could hardly follow, and showing obvious concern for and interest in him.

"Hey! You're spacing out, Are you sure you're all right?" Yuffie asked, turning back to Nero after chatting with Vincent, who had stayed just as silent as the ex-deep ground. "You're looking a bit pale I think.. at least from what I can see. Well, I can't really tell.. I mean, I don't know if you people get a tan down there in Deep Ground." She giggled, until she realised that she might have gone a little bit too far.

"Heh.. sorry, that was mean. It's not like you can help it." She said, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of her head.

Vincent frowned unnoticeably when he saw that Nero was indeed very pale, but he was interested in how this situation would work itself out. After all, Nero had come on his own accord, so who was he to send him back to his room like a little kid…and maybe it hadn't been so considerate to leave him alone.

When he turned his attention outward again, Vincent heard Cloud and Cid objecting to something, their voices embarrassed and awkward.

Yuffie was reaching up to Nero's face. "It'll be easier to talk when you take that mask off I think. Let me do it for you." She had simply decided for him. The idea of wanting to hide and the need to feel restrained just didn't fit into her world.

Vincent almost stepped in to stop her, but he knew that someday, the mask would have to come off. It might as well happen now. Stopping Cid and Cloud from rushing to Nero's 'aid', he hoped that the Zvet wouldn't be too upset at the intrusion.

Indeed, Nero was certainly feeling more than a little flustered at the sudden threat. He had suppressed a yelp at Yuffie's words, but when the ninja suddenly bounded up to him, he closed his eyes and tried to curl up in mid-air. Startled by his reaction, reminding her of a porcupine in distress, Yuffie halted for a moment.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know. But if you ever want to get a decent tan, you'll have to take that thing off." She said seriously, sincerity in every word. Nero relaxed, just a bit, and opened his eyes to look at her. The earnest young woman wasn't fazed at all by his intense eyes that were intently trying to detect any hint of malicious intent. When Nero didn't find any, he decided that he might as well get it over with…even if he was a little scared.

_Let's get this over with._

everyone thought.

Nyan, R&R please. Constructive criticism appreciated, as always, and as I had to split this chapter in two, I have something I want to try. Five reviews, and I'll post the next bit, okay? I really want more opinions XD

for that hall: imagine the Al Bhed ship in FFX


	8. getting liberated

Alright... I finished the chapter, finally... again, I split it in two parts, next one will be up as soon as possible. I promise!

Prepare for some fluff...

Chapter 8: getting liberated 

Sensing the man's anxiety, but feeling that it was okay now, Yuffie gently stroked the bandage of his cheeks, fiddling with the button that held the whole thing together for a moment but moving on to something more interesting.

She couldn't help but want to stroke his hair, dark like his powers, and a bit wispy, too, where it fell over the right side of his face. It seemed as if the smallest puff of wind could blow the strands away… it looked rough and messy from further away, but up close it was incredibly fine. A bit tangled, maybe, but nothing a good combing couldn't handle. It was a bit like Vincent's, it only behaved in a different way. The young kunoichi already decided she'd make sure his hair was smooth and shiny, but that was something for later.

Nero was too nervous to notice the broad satisfied grin that spread on her features, and winced when she touched his hair and skin when she brushed his ear. Cloud and Cid could feel the tension radiating off him, and even if they could understand the reason why the man was so nervous, none of them could fathom the mental abuse that had caused this reaction.

Yuffie, in her refreshing obliviousness to all of this, did feel the need to be unusually tender.

Her look softened as her hands stroked, eased and caressed, familiarising the frightened Zvet with her touch. Every time she tried something new to satisfy her curiosity, Nero shivered, feeling a strong urge to growl, or to just disappear, but slowly, he became too dazed to retaliate. This was the ninja's playground, and she was free to do whatever she pleased…

Tenderly, Yuffie touched the tip of his nose, traced his brows, and when he squeezed his eyes shut, she lightly pressed her cooling fingers against his eyelids. She was careful when she came near a recent cut on his temple, where something had torn through his mask as well, and Nero gradually calmed down. After a while, she had smoothed out all the tension lines, and Nero was completely limp, in a state that resembled a light sleep. Silent like a bat he hung from the ceiling. He was simply too tired to register anything else, his senses numbed by the barrage of unfamiliar feelings.

No one had ever done this to him. No one.

Yuffie felt that she had accomplished her mission, slowly pried the buttons loose and reached around his face to gather the bandage-like mask that went all over his head.

An uncomfortable chill spread through Nero's body when the tissue fell away, caught in Yuffie's hands. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the young woman in front of him who had taken a step backwards to examine the effect.

"Not so bad..." the ninja said softly, watching the man's face with her warm brown eyes.

She saw the very faint outlines of the mask still etched into his skin, small pressure lines, an almost unnoticeable difference in skin tone where the paler parts touched the surfaces that had been exposed to the sun for a short time. His cheeks, the skin around his eyes and the very tip of his nose had a slightly healthier tone, a little bit brownish, whilst his mask had caused the rest of his face to remain an almost white rosiness. His chin, that had been exposed to the sun as well, was still paler than his cheeks, mainly because of his tendency to let his head droop when he didn't have to look confident.

His nose resembled Vincent's, but it was a bit more… straightforward in Yuffie's opinion. Vincent's was more delicate.. Nero's was clean, a very normal nose, not like Cid's –grubby and accentuated-, or Shelke's –fine and delicately tipped-… his was simple, to say. Yuffie liked that.

His mouth was finely shaped, his lips very pale and thin, and the kunoichi wondered how it would look if twisted into a smile, not pressed together in tension… The effect would be even more pleasant looking than Vincent's rare smiles, she guessed… Vincent's were made to smile, for the woman he loved, but Nero had never gotten the chance to show any sign of happiness. Another thing on her 'to do' list… making Nero happy enough to show her if she was right.

Taking the whole image in one last time, Yuffie was satisfied. Her cheeks had gotten pink, from being so close to his feverish body and from doing her very best not to hurt him. Her large brown eyes shone warmly at the sight of her new comrade.

"Not so bad at all…" It was almost a whisper, but it didn't need to be spoken loudly.

She smiled.

Nero's eyes glowed dully, feeling and testing this new situation. It felt as if someone had ripped a piece of skin away, but it didn't hurt. His gaze was focused on Yuffie alone, fearing the feeling of exposure that was seeping into his face, ready to burst forth in a harsh red tint on his cheeks. Somehow, he began wondering when exactly this had happened, but Yuffie, getting back to her cheerful and happy self, made him wake from his trance.

"I knew it'd be better to get that thing off as quickly as possible… you're already getting a darker tan around your eyes!" she giggled. Nero's mouth formed a little 'D' with the belly up, and his brows furrowed, not getting the implication of a raccoon-face just yet, but when he pictured it, he uttered a soft 'oh…'.

Suddenly, he let go of the rafter pipes with one of his wings, and started rubbing the bridge of his nose with the hand of it. The dexterity with which he handled the, in the party's opinion, crude, far-fetched and dangerous arms astonished them all. When he was done with the itch there, he tucked his hair behind his ears when he noticed it almost covered his right eye. Then he started touching his cheeks, his chin, and back to the bridge of his nose, feeling the itch returning. The metal against his skin felt strange now.

Cloud and Cid gave him some time to himself to sort it out, but when he had tucked his hair away for the fifth time, Cloud sighed.

"Are you done yet? I'm getting hungry…" he said, more gruffly than he had intended. The mercenary- delivery boy also suspected that both Cid and Vincent might be hungry as well. (Yuffie was always hungry.) Cid reacted immediately.

"Of course! What are we still doin' here, I've asked Shera to make us early breakfast an hour ago!"

Vincent turned his head to him "Shera's here as well? And you woke her up?"

Yuffie stopped looking at Nero, too. "There's food?! Where?"

"Hey, hey… Yes, I took Shera with me.. she insisted upon it. And no, I didn't wake her up, those two –Cid pointed at Cloud and Yuffie- came barging into our room this morning, waking her up along with me." He spoke loudly, as if he was trying to defend himself… for all he knew, Vincent was accusing him of abusing his wife by waking her up this godforsaken early. He'd never do that on purpose!

.. as long as she made his tea…

He ignored Yuffie's comment, and started ushering his comrades to the kitchen. Only when he had shoved them all out of the hallway, he noticed that Nero had somehow flexed his every muscle to get his body out of the way to give them all room to pass him by. Now he was hanging a few metres behind them all, unsure of himself after being ignored ever since the word 'breakfast' had been mentioned. He watched the four stop and turn around to face him.

To Cid, Nero looked pitifully exhausted. Dangling from the ceiling, his hair drooping into his eyes again, pale as death with his eyes only half opened, he could've been hanged.

"Are you coming? Vincent didn't say you people don't eat, so I assume you need some food, too." the pilot asked. "Also, I'll consider it an insult if you didn't come to try my Shera's scrambled eggs."

Only then, Nero began to feel hungry as well. He had never eaten scrambled eggs before –the Deep Ground's diet had consisted mainly of tasteless and unidentifiable emergency rations, and occasionally a meaty tasting soup-, and if he had, he didn't remember, but the word made his insides squirm in anticipation.

"I.. I'm coming…" he sounded more enthusiastic than he had thought he could manage. As quickly as he could, he caught up with his new allies, but when he came close to them, they split up and gave him room to move in front. It made him nervous again.

"Umm…" Cloud was honest now. "You know, having you doing that right behind me " he referred to him clanging against the pipes "it creeps me out a bit. So you go in front."

"I understand. " Nero nodded solemnly. "..But I don't know the way..."

"Well I do!" Yuffie chirped. "I'll walk next to you, okay? Don't worry, I won't bump into you." she said when she saw his apprehensive look. When she put her hand on his side softly to prod him on, he bent away from the touch.

"Oh, sorry… did I hurt you?" Yuffie asked quickly, looking concerned. Vincent tapped her on the shoulder, relieving Nero of the tedious task of putting something into words he didn't really understand himself. The ninja turned to him, and when she saw the look on his face, she suddenly had a flash of insight. Nero looked over his shoulder, trying not to jar his injured shoulder, to see the exchange behind him, but by the time he had turned around far enough, Yuffie was already scooting back to her place next to him.

"Heheh.. sorry, Nero. I'm just really insensitive sometimes…" she grinned awkwardly. One of Nero's brows went up, confused by the duality in her actions against her words. What she had done mere minutes ago… Well, if that wasn't sensitive, he didn't know what else could be.

When the Wutaian girl saw his incredulous look, she added: " Aw hell… don't worry about it too much… once you get to know me a bit better, you might figure me out. None of _them_ ever did." Her eyes jerked in her friends' direction. ".. Well, let's go then… mmm; I can already smell the eggs…"

With a delighted look, Yuffie skipped ahead. Nero followed obediently, leaving Cid, Cloud and Vincent a few steps behind them. The three cast each other all kinds of looks, expressing their puzzlement, and acknowledgement of the fact that they had indeed somehow failed to recognise the kunoichi's softer side. Only Vincent had realised before that she was maturing, but she had never said anything that expressed that she knew that everybody only saw the façade of the cheerful annoying materia thief.

Nyan, R&R please! I know it's a weird way to end a chapter, but I literally cut one huge chapter in two...


	9. getting breakfast

So, just like I promised, I update the fic a little sooner than usual... Yeah... I'm usually so slow I'm surprised I don't type backwards.

But then again, I have this ready now. The next one might be a while, but please don't give up on me! I know I'll get to the end someday!

And I've decided to ditch the disclaimer. People probably get the meaning after the first six disclaimers.

And really, **SO** MUCH THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS! You people always make my day : D But here we go... Enjoy.

Chapter 9: Getting breakfast 

When they neared the kitchen door, Cid shoved himself past Nero and Yuffie, careful not to hurt the Zvet, and entered.

"Good morning, Shera! We're all here now, sorry for making you wait!" the pilot boomed happily upon seeing his wife seated on one of the chairs. The brown haired woman, who always kept her neatly combed hair in a ponytail, looked up from the book she was reading, and greeted her husband with a warm smile.

"Everything is ready, dear. The plates are on the table, and I made enough to feed a whole regiment." She looked at Yuffie, who was peeking through the entrance. The woman knew that the younger female was already fighting the drool that flooded her mouth when she smelled the freshly made eggs.

"Well, eh…" Cid hesitantly scraped the nape of his neck " Well, hun', we have another guest…"

Shera immediately rose from her chair, and went to the cupboards to get an extra plate. "So, Cloud, Yuffie, mr. Valentine, and you; and one more? Who is it? Did Shelke arrive already?"

Cid's 'what?' miraculously managed to cover up Nero's gasp from behind the doorpost.

"Well, Reeve called half an hour ago.. he apologised for waking us up this early -which wasn't necessary, of course- to say that Shelke is on her way here. He sounded pretty stressed… he told me that she'd left on her own accord, that she was concerned about that life signal. She wanted to come, too, and in the middle of the night, she hijacked Fenrir…"

Cloud wanted to say something at the mentioning of his motorcycle ( he had left it at the WRO base -where it was safe, he had thought-…), but decided to listen on. He peeked into the kitchen now as well, pushing Yuffie into the room.

Shera saw him, though. "Oh! Well, don't worry… she's able to handle the bike, I heard."

"From who?"

"… Reeve… he said she practised riding motorcycles for a while when she started working for him. So don't worry, she won't crash it. Reeve says she's a skilled driver." Shera assured him.

"… it's still not okay.. she can't just go and take Fenrir wherever she wants..." Cloud moped quietly. _Actually I'm more concerned about where that vehicle will take _her…

Shera returned to the previous subject, while Yuffie glanced at Nero and Vincent, the brooding duo, who were still lingering behind, out of sight. The gunman was talking to the Zvet quietly.

"Are you alright?" Vincent asked softly. Nero had bleached even more when Shelke was mentioned. His lower lip was trembling.

"She's coming here?" he soundlessly asked, his voice too raw to speak, but Vincent understood his shocked expression. He nodded.

"That are problems for later… everything will be fine, just don't get yourself all worked up."

"But I…"

"I know." Vincent made him focus on his words, drawing him out of his sudden depression. "I know, Nero. But I've learned other things as well. I don't know the fine details between you and her, but she won't try to harm you, I can assure you. Concentrate on eating something first now, before you pass out." Vincent told him, remembering snippets of conversations with Shelke from the weeks before. He knew for sure that the girl wouldn't want to hurt her former 'friend', not in this lifetime.

Suddenly, he noticed something.

"Nero, where did your aura go?"

Nero looked around him, and noted the absence of the darkness that had fogged around him since his birth… the first thing it had done was killing his mother. It was gone… but wait, a few almost transparent hexagons still surrounded him, but only his trained eye could see them.

"I have no idea… I'm always retaining whatever of it I can, but why…" he whispered, his jaw falling open slowly. For the first time, Vincent could tell from his whole facial expression that he was baffled.

They didn't get the chance to contemplate about it any longer, because the others' conversation had also continued.

"If it's not Shelke who is with you, then who is? It can't be that you found someone alive in these ruins…" Shera said, thinking about other possibilities.

Cid answered her question. "Well, dear… we _did_ find someone.. or rather, Vince did. Yesterday evening, when I told the crew to go to bed, and Cloud and Yuffie went to get Vincent –you saw him wandering around didn't you?-, he had already found what we were looking for."

Shera cast him a puzzled look. "Now are you going to tell me what he found or not?" She was getting impatient.

"Well, you can meet him now.. he used to be with Deep Ground, but he survived somehow… Don't worry, he's on our side now. Vincent told us the whole story, it's better if he tells you, too. Come in, Vince!" Cid called over to the door.

Vincent had to leave Nero a few steps behind him now, if the other wasn't up to joining him in coming inside and greet his hostess. Indeed, Nero stayed behind, clinging to the rafters soundlessly, trying to remain calm, and desperately willing his mind to prepare for the onslaught he was sure to happen. Shelke…

Vincent greeted Shera in his usual polite manner, but this time he managed to add a little smile and a curt nod. The woman was visibly pleased by this, and she offered him to sit down. Cloud, Cid and Yuffie looked at him out of the corners of their eyes… No one had asked Them to sit down yet.

Not that Vincent had planned on sitting down anyway… he didn't want to settle himself just yet, very much aware of the anguish Nero was in, and looking for an opening to introduce him to Shera.

"Thanks, miss Highwind… but I believe there's someone else who needs to sit down for a moment… he's not all well, you see. Oh, and I think that your husband and our friends would be more than willing to sit down right now and get something to eat. Cloud's drooling." Vincent added, feeling like picking on the warrior a bit.

Aforementioned mercenary blushed and wiped the drool away… he hadn't even noticed, but yes, he was so hungry he could hardly restrain himself. The smell in the kitchen was so rich, that taking a deep breath was enough to make Yuffie's stomach protest loudly.

Shera blinked at them for a moment, surprised by the eagerness of the party to have breakfast, and then turned back to Vincent.

"Well, if _they_ believe that the person you found is alright, then I believe you, too. I'll hear the whole story sometime later, I'm sure." She nodded, as if to put emphasis on her decision to let the matter rest until after feeding her boys. "And, he's with you? Why doesn't he come in?"

Vincent was glad. Shera was a good woman, and she had been involved in many absurd things and met the most peculiar people in her life before, including himself. Nero'd be alright. "I'll introduce him right away, Shera. He's just a bit.. self-conscious at the moment." He told her, casting her a meaningful look. Shera caught it and nodded, and Vincent turned around to fetch Nero. He let his red eyes swerve over the ceiling for a short while, and suddenly he noticed something. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Cloud and Cid in particular.

"There are no pipes in here…"

Cid's hand rose to scratch the back of his neck, and Cloud looked up and looked uncomfortable. "Oh boy…"

Shera looked up as well, and wondered why that was a bad thing. "Is there something wrong?"

"No not, really, it's just a short way from the door to the table… we'll manage." Cloud said. "I'll carry him if I have to." Vincent's brow rose at this statement. Then again, this was Cloud. One moment he was distrusting, the other moment feeling helpful. Shera made a move to stand up, but Cid stopped her with a halting movement. "It's okay, you'll understand."

Vincent rounded the corner and stepped into the hall, where Nero had been listening. He had pressed himself all the way against the wall a few paces further away then where Vincent had left him.

"You heard it… Cloud's going to carry you to the table if that's okay with you… hey, and don't worry. Shera's quite alright. And about Shelke, even with Fenrir, she won't be here for another few hours, believe me." Vincent said calmly. Nero hummed a distressed 'yes' sound.

Now Cloud walked up to him, and he saw the fearful look in Nero's dark orange eyes. His own blue ones stared back defiantly. "…I won't drop you. Now let go." He demanded curtly. He knew he couldn't take him on his back, because he'd hurt the man's arms, so he'd just have to do it the little-girl-way…

Nero cast Vincent a worried glance, and then strained his wings to get low enough for Cloud to shove an arm under Nero's behind, and the light man sat down on it, slowly letting his weight down. Cloud then used his other arm to steady his back, watching out for the wing joints, and he was indeed surprised to find it a much easier task than he had imagined.

"What did they feed you down there… geez, I bet nothing at all." He said, more to himself than to Nero. Nero was too busy being embarrassed to hear it.

Being kind of awkward with the situation himself, Cloud quickly followed Vincent into the kitchen. He had to manoeuvre himself through the door in three tries, but eventually he managed to get through without mangling himself, the door or Nero.

With a sigh, he put Nero on the chair at the head of the wooden kitchen table, with a little help from CidAn accident nearly happened when Nero suddenly spread one of his wings to steady himself, as he couldn't use his broken and tied up arms for balance, nearly cutting Cloud with one of the blades in the process.

. Shera watched it all happen with well-hidden curiosity and a bit of pity, but she stayed silent, sensing that this wasn't really the right moment, and that her questions would be answered later. Only when Nero was safely put down on the chair, muttering a thousand 'I'm sorry's to Cloud and Cid, she addressed him.

"So.. what's your name?"

Nero looked up, and the two men took that as a cue to sit down as well, Cid near Shera, at the other end of the table, Cloud next to Yuffie opposite the woman. Vincent unbuckled his red cloak, hung it over the last chair, and sat down as well. For a very long time, there was only silence and a table filled with plates, cutlery and a giant steaming pan with omelette.

"…I'm… My name is Nero the Sable."

"Okay… now that that is settled.." Shera said. Yuffie eagerly awaited the moment when she'd say 'tuck in', but that wasn't the case just yet.

"How are you going to eat? I understand that you can't walk on your own, and your arms look kind of tied up to me." Shera blurted out.

Cid nearly slapped his face. Yep, that's his Shera alright. Just by saying that, Cid knew that Nero knew that they were all thinking the same thing…Someone would have to feed him. Much to his relief, Nero remained relatively calm.

"Well, you are right, I cannot use any of my limbs properly right now, but as you might have seen, I have a set of spare ones…and those work just fine." Nero told her quietly.

Vincent cast him an approving look. He was making progress if he could handle situations like this. Nero didn't catch it, as he was observing his new companions sigh in relief. His attention was short-lived, however. When he looked at Cid, who was sitting opposite him, his eyes were drawn to the yellow food with bacon. Soon, all of them, excluding Shera and Vincent, were ogling the pan.

Shera caught the hint.

"Well, if there are no more problems… tuck in, people."

As if they were ashamed at their behaviour, they held back just a moment longer, but soon, Yuffie and Cid were fighting over who'd get served first. Cloud took advantage of the struggle and loaded his plate, and then, out of politeness, he also gave Shera her share, then Vincent, and then even Nero. He dropped the spoon into the pan again, and left Cid and Yuffie to fight some more.

Nero had thanked Cloud when the excellent-smelling plate had been put in front of him, but while the others had started eating – or in some cases, gulping down- their food, he took his time to get his wings angled correctly.

He did it slowly, extremely careful not to make any alarming sounds, he strained to keep his movements unnoticed, even if nobody could help glancing at him every few seconds. Only Vincent proceeded eating calmly. When Nero accidentally moved in a way that made some of his blades screech over each other almost inaudibly, he winced visibly. Immediately, his appendages dropped an inch or two, and he was very still for a while. Now, everyone except Vincent was looking at him apprehensively, and Nero misinterpreted the tense staring, waiting for him to finally start eating with his mechanical hands, as mistrusting glares at his wings.

When he took even longer to examine the omelette after he had at last grabbed his cutlery, with amazing dexterity that amazed Shera greatly, Cloud looked at him.

"It's not poisoned, you know… Just eat it, you're making me nervous."

Nero wanted to say something back, something like 'You're making ME nervous', but then again, Cloud was serious. It was just.. it smelled so good. And it had _real_ meat in it. It wasn't tinkered with, it came from birds who had actually _laid the eggs themselves_. And it looked so odd.. all yellow, and the substance wasn't fluid, but it wasn't solid either.

With a fork and a spoon in his mechanical hands, Nero prodded the egg, until Vincent reassured him again. "Cloud's right, you know. Just eat it… you'll have to get used to food like this, although I have to admit that omelette might not be the most unsuspicious-looking meal in the world…"

"Sorry…" Finally, Nero dared to pick some food up and bring it to his mouth, his mouth that was now free from the mask he used to wear… Barely an hour ago Yuffie had liberated him from the thing, and already it seemed so far away.

Nero savoured the taste, savoured the knowledge that this was real, and for a short time, forgot all about his damaged body, about Shelke, Weiss, about the future. Soon, he had finished his first plateful, and when Cloud asked him if he wanted more, he received a tired, but brilliant smile and an honest 'Yes, please!'

R&R, I'll keep asking! You really encourage me, you know : )


	10. getting frightened

... This took way too long. I'm a terrible updater, but I'm doing my best on every chapter I produce.

So much thanks to all my reviewers, every one of your messages brightens my day. Without further ado, here's probably the most emotional chapter I've ever written.

For the disclaimer, refer to any previous chapter.

Chapter 10: Getting frightened 

Nero dared not think about the future yet, and certainly not about the past. For now, all he wanted was to savour the feeling of his stomach filling up with the delicious omelette, and the warm air in the room, so unlike the humid cool that hung in the depths of the 'home' he had now abandoned. The activity around him wasn't tense and harsh, it were just people eating in silence. He knew they were looking at him between bites, and he knew that they had questions, just like he could think of many.

_What will they say? What will happen to me now? What are their plans for me, if they have any, will they keep me close to keep an eye on me, or will they leave me somewhere to figure it out myself? What of Shelke, what do I tell her, what will she think, what will she do, what will she want, she'll hurt me, she'll be angry, STOP. _

_No further. It's no use trying to come up with every possible scenario. This is out of my hands.  
_Deliberately Nero cut his thoughts short. He could feel Vincent looking sharply at him, alarmed by his sudden rigidness. The ex-Zviet didn't look back at him, but kept his gaze downcast onto his now almost empty plate. He emptied his mind along with it, and then sat still, awaiting what would come next.

His surroundings and the people in the scenery were slowly drifting away from him as they, too finished their breakfast and put down their cutlery with soft clinking sounds. Nero shifted a little when he felt his broken leg was bothering him, and sank a little deeper into his chair. The shoulder joints of his metal wings dug into his back a little deeper, but the awkward thumping feeling of a cut-off bloodstream ebbed away. He no longer took notice of Vincent watching him, or Cid raising his brow as he was slowly dozing off.

Eventually, the captain could stand it no longer, and approached the man who had seemed to have settled with trying to take a nap on a damn wooden chair. He just wouldn't have Nero sleeping in the kitchen, because he might fall off and hurt himself, and because is was too fucking awkward.

"Hey…" Cid said, trying to sound a gentle as he could manage. He didn't really expect to get a reaction immediately, as he was already drawing a breath to say it again, more loudly this time, when Nero's eyes opened slowly and locked onto Cid's own.

"…Yes?" A silence fell, during which Cloud and Yuffie continued helping Shera clean up the table, and Vincent stepped away from his charge a little to give the pilot some room. Nero waited calmly, too tired to take initiative, but alert on whatever would come his way.

Even if he was a little taken aback by the way Nero had seemed to be sleeping, yet hadn't, Cid drove on.

"Hey, well, uh... If you're tired, go to bed. I'll take you there, okay?"

Nero's eyes widened a little in shocked surprise. He hadn't known what to expect, but this… They way this older scruffy man spoke to him, that mildly concerned tone…

".. Don't give me that look. It's really just… Gah! This is no place to sleep, haven't they taught you that in Deepground?" Cid exclaimed desperately.

Nero's expression had caught him off guard, too. Damn it, it wasn't as if he had offered make all of his troubles go away with the wave of a pixie stick, hadn't he. Then why was he looking so astonished? Was it really possible that this young man couldn't imagine that someone would feel sorry for him slouching precariously in that cheap piece of furniture, his exhausted body obviously craving for sleep?

At Cid's words, Nero only looked more miserable than he already had been, a little fearful and unbelieving. Now he was ashamed, too, and wondered if his reaction had angered the man. Also, he couldn't help squeezing out a hurt answer to Cid's rethorical question.

"… In Deepground, nobody cares where you sleep. Be it chained against a pillar, dead on the floor, or resting on a throne…"

Before he could keep himself in check, it had slipped out, in a bitter and angry tone, even if he didn't want to sound like he was mad with Cid for bringing it up at all. After all, the man was right, and he just wanted to be kind, it seemed. The memories had caught up with him this time, and won this round. Nero couldn't take his words back, no matter how much he wanted to. They had already made their impact, even if he had barely whispered them.

Cid gasped, Cloud turned his eyes towards the two of them, Vincent's alertness was drawn from anything else and focused onto the scene before him, only to be diverted again when Yuffie dropped a plate at the sudden tension in the room. The noise drowned both Cid and Nero's hasty, breathless apology, Cid for not being considerate in his choice of words and Nero for saying what he had.

"What?" Cloud asked to everyone in the room.  
"Wha- …eeeh!! Oh damn!" Yuffie swooped down to do something about the mess she made, but failed at coming up with how to handle a shattered plate, and turned her head to watch Cid and Nero anxiously.

Shera did the same, but Vincent could only manage a look full of regret. Cid had hit an emotional spot which Nero apparently couldn't handle yet, and the situation looked like it would escalate any moment. Despite not harbouring any bad feelings towards the pilot, Nero's retort had sounded too venomous for anyone but Vincent to realise it hadn't been deliberate.

Almost everyone in the room had tensed up and stood rigid. Cid only raised his hand towards his face to grasp the cigarette he had lit after finishing his meal, but Nero flinched at the movement. For a split second, he was reminded of the Restrictor and his habit of violently 'slapping' him around, just like he did the other Zviets, and he began to panic.

Yes, Nero's memories had caught up with him, and he simply didn't have the strength of will anymore to ban them and think clearly. What Vincent had tried to avoid had happened, because of a simple misunderstanding. The fact that the man hadn't been able to override his emotions proved that Nero's trauma ran deeper into his soul than the gunman had imagined.

Cid dropped the cigarette.

Despite the pain it caused him, Nero now acted on a fight-or-flee instinct. In just a few seconds, he had been immersed in the horrifying visions from his past, seeing only them and losing track of the situation. He had never known he'd snap so quickly, he didn't understand why all of this suddenly became such a nightmare, let alone why his tormentors had used the images of these nice people to draw closer and catch him off guard.

"Get away from me!" _Too close, that person is too close, I'll hurt him, he'll hurt me._

Cid backed away a little. Nero tensed, his teeth clenched, his eyes wide with fear. Little beads of sweat were forming on his face, cold with fright and contorted in an expression of terror. He had been leaning away from the pilot, but now, he hunched forward, and braced himself.

Suddenly, his wings flared into action and fluidly reached behind his back. Nero violently pushed himself up from the chair, and he stood. The piece of furniture clattered to the ground far behind him.

Nobody dared to move as confused Zviet breathed heavily as he tried to find his balance, while keeping a sharp distrusting eye on them all, his gaze flitting from one person to the next. His body swerved too far forward and he nearly toppled over, but somehow he managed to avoid falling by taking a step forward and using his wings to keep a hold of the tableside.

For a moment, he stood hunched over the table, panting, but when Yuffie made a move, he snapped up his head and made her stop dead in her tracks. The girl was close to tears by now. She didn't like seeing him like this, she hated it, and she wanted him to stop. He was hurting himself, and that pretty, somewhat innocent face she had uncovered earlier was now a mask of fear. Yuffie failed to understand why, but it HAD-TO-STOP.

Nero kept his hard stare fixed on her, not really seeing her, but a threat. His terrorised grin had intensified when the pain had begun coursing through his leg, but he didn't dare to give in. If he could run away, he would, but they were all around him, blocking any way out. His breathing had turned into soft anguished gasps, and the pressure on his leg was still building. He was using it as his main support now, but he was deathly afraid of shifting, lest he really lost his balance this time.

The deadlock remained, and even Vincent was at loss. Without his guns or not, the man's wings were a formidable weapon, and even if his darn aura miraculously hadn't made an appearance yet, he could still lash out any time.

"Stop it, Nero!" Cloud shouted. Nero's eyes darted to him. "Please, Nero, you have to ca-"

"Shut up!!" Nero interrupted him, his voice high-pitched. He squeezed his eyes shut now, trying to block it all out.  
"Shut up, just be quiet, please, be quiet, get away from me, I…" his rambling died down to a terrified murmur. Eventually, he only managed to utter a last few fluttery breaths before his legs gave away under him. Gravity tugged him down instantly.

"God no!" Yuffie whispered. Mad with concern and pity by now, she didn't hesitate any longer, and dashed towards him.

When Nero came down on the floor, his injured leg twisted beneath him, he cried out, and instinctively shifted his wings around to get his weight off it. Something was in the way, however. Yuffie knelt down next to him, tears streaming out of her eyes as she cried for him and told him to stop.

He heard nothing of her pleas, but backed away from her, only worsening the pain in his broken limb. The kunoichi was panicking now, too, and in her helplessness, she grabbed his shoulders to emphasize what she was yelling at him. Unintentionally, she only added to his pain when she roughly jerked his upper arm that had been crushed. The Zviet groaned painfully, and again tried to push her away with his wing, but she didn't move out of the way, and he only managed to force himself to lay down, as far away from her as possible.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled. "Don't touch me…" whispering now, Nero still weakly tried to get more distance between him and the ninja with the other wing, but Yuffie calmed down now, snapped out of her panic and soothed by the exhausted whimpering he was producing.

"Ssshhhh… it's okay… It's okay…." She cooed as she slowly crawled past his hip and positioned herself closer to his torso, not caring that the blades of his wing had cut her. All around the two of them, Cloud, Cid and Shera had silently edged forward to see what was happening, and to offer assistance if Nero would attempt to do her real harm.

"Sshhhhh… I won't hurt you, nobody wants to hurt you." As carefully as possible, she slowly heaved his upper body onto her knees and held him gently. Nero barely seemed aware of it, his orange eyes clouded over and staring wide-eyed into space, but his breathing became a little steadier. Gradually, Yuffie managed to coax him into listening to her voice, and after minutes, his eyelids dropped a little closer, and he relaxed his body a little. When he let go of this tension, however, he winced and inhaled sharply through his teeth when once again, his body weight was on his leg.

Yuffie held him up tighter, and beckoned Cid and Cloud.  
"I think it's okay now… please try to get his legs from under him, if you could." she asked quietly.

The two men cast each other a look, and then knelt down to do as she wanted. Shera attracted Yuffie's attention now.

"Is there anything I could get you?" she questioned silently, afraid to break the moment. The kunoichi nodded.

"A glass of water, maybe? And a cool towel, if that's possible…" The woman nodded and went to the kitchen to get those things. As she was on her way, she was startled for a moment when a relatively loud 'Ah!' resounded in the room, but she quickly continued. Cloud and Cid had managed to untangle Nero's lower body, who now laid down outstretched, his torso and head held up gently by the young woman.

Sweat still had his dark hair matted to his face and neck, his eyes were scrunched close and his jaw was trembling, as if his teeth were about to start chattering. His chest heaved up and down, but he seemed to restrain this movement, as it would jar his arms that were still bound. Without a second thought upon noticing this, Yuffie loosened the restraints to give him some room to breathe.

When he felt the wrappings loosen, Nero pried his eyes open, and recognised the ninja. Yuffie reached over to his face to push a few of his bangs aside, but when that made him flinch again and close his eyes, she resumed her soothing mantra.

"Hey… Nero, it's okay… no one will hurt you, not anymore. Everything will be fine…." She brushed his hair aside and withdrew her hand. He looked at her again, his eyes shining feverishly in his pale face.

At that moment, Shera came back from the kitchen, and handed Yuffie the damp cloth she had brought, and hung onto the glass of water for a moment. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Shera. Cid's lucky to have someone like you…" Yuffie said when she took the towel, and then focused on Nero again. After a few very deep gulps of air after loosening him up, he had now fallen back to a shallow, slow breathing rhythm.

When the ninja touched Nero's sweaty forehead with the cloth, he flinched somewhat, but he didn't open his eyes again. Carefully, she wiped his face and neck, and then placed the cool towel directly on his closed eyelids. A shudder ran through his body, and a n unsteady sigh escaped his lips. Now, even his wings relaxed visibly. Even if they all had just eaten, he just didn't have the willpower anymore to move them.

"Better?" Yuffie finally asked quietly. Nero took the time to let it sink in, and finally groaned a shaky, equally quiet 'hmhm'. In the silence that followed, Cloud and Cid turned towards Vincent, but before they could start speaking, Nero still had something to say.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered hoarsely. "I'm so sorry…" a wrecking sob started building up inside him, and if Yuffie hadn't placed the cloth on his eyes, this would have been the moment tears started leaking down his cheeks.

When neither of the other three men in the room seemed capable of retorting to that, Yuffie hunched over Nero and held him even closer. The broken Zviet silently cried into her embrace, unable to return it. He wanted to hold her the way he had held his brother right before he died, he wanted to thank her for her kindness so badly, but all he could do was mourn what he had lost and fear what still had to come.  
His sobs were muffled by Yuffie's arms and body, but the sorrow and pain in them was almost too much for her to bear. She had to keep herself with all her might from crying with him, for him.

"You never told us it was that bad." Cloud addressed Vincent discreetly, with a twinge of annoyance.

"I never imagined it was. He must have been through more than any of us can imagine. Even you, Cloud." Vincent answered, referring to the mercenary's own haunted past.

"But you said you knew him well enough to guarantee he wouldn't harm anyone." Cid piped up.

"He hasn't, has he? I never claimed I knew his whole life's story… I know what I learned from him, the Zviets and the other Deepground Soldiers in battle, and I figured he would have a burden on his soul he'd carry for a long time, if not forever…" Vincent replied to this. Yuffie looked up at him.

"We should let him talk about it, if he wants to… I heard it's good to talk about your problems. If he bottles it up like this, he'll harm himself more than he will anyone else." she said matter-of-factly, yet kept her whispered tone, with a hint of a constrained squeak from the lump in her throat. Nero rested lightly in her hold, his breathing almost back to normal, only disturbed every few seconds by the remnant of a sob.

Vincent nodded, and Cid and Cloud showed their approval a moment later. "IF he wants to." Cid added.

"I.. I will tell you, if you… need to hear…" Nero moved inside the ninja's embrace, and she loosened her hold on him, so he could see.

"If that's what I need to do, I will…" his voice trailed into a shaky sigh.

"No, no.." Yuffie said to him softly, " not because _we _want to hear… Tell us if _you_ want us to know, if _you_ want to tell somebody what has happened to you. We're here to listen, okay?" She smiled kindly, squeezing a few tears out of the corners of her eyes. Nero saw them. "Don't cry…" he whispered, a little helpless. " I don't want to make you feel sad. Sadness is something **I** have, not something _you_ should have…"

"Ah" Yuffie uttered, and wiped the tears away with her knuckles. "That's not true. And besides, these aren't sad tears, they're happy tears." Nero looked at her tiredly, with an unmistakably questioning look in his half-closed eyes.

"I'm happy now because you're not hurting yourself any more. And because you let me help you. Before, I was sad, and scared, yes. But not anymore now." she told him.

"… you were scared?" Nero asked sadly. In his mind, he imagined what had happened during the time he had been hallucinating. Had he threatened to hurt her? Had he looked frightening, had he played with her mind to make her terrified?

"I was scared for you, not myself." Yuffie casually answered. Nero's mind fell silent. Even if he was still unable to grasp that idea, being afraid for someone, someone being worried about _him_, he felt the implications, and once again he filled up with regret for what he had done and gratitude, such gratitude, for what she was doing to him.

"Well, shall we maybe.. relocate to a more comfortable place? If you think we can move you, of course, Nero?" Shera asked him, cutting to the next, more important subject.

"Uh…"

"Yes, that's a plan!" Cid answered for him. "Can ya take it?" he asked Nero, too. The Zviet nodded, baffled by the sudden change in pace, too overwhelmed by the question for the moment to think about the implications of 'telling your life's story'.

During the few minutes it took to pick Nero up from the floor and bring him to the circle of sofas and cushioned chairs that had been installed in the 'cockpit', right on top of the Tiny Bronco logo, his mind was a jumble.

One moment he was lying on the floor, held by this young woman he owed so much to, the next he was being handled not too roughly by five hands and a claw to get him up and carry him directly to the destination. Shera retreated back into the kitchen to get something to drink and eat ready.

Yuffie hurriedly hobbled behind the bundle of men navigating through the hallways, with the glass of water in her hand. When she managed to take a peek over Cloud's shoulder, by jumping up a little, she caught a glance of Nero's deadpan expression, amazed at the speed at which things were happening and barely able to keep track. In between doing his best to keep his wings and limbs out of harms way, and keeping everyone else out of his wings' way, he caught the looks Yuffie was shooting him every few seconds as she bobbed upwards occasionally.

The young ninja showed him her brightest, most reassuring smile she managed, and added a grinning thumbs up. Nero blushed at the attention and care he was getting from her, but he had to withdraw his gaze on her when one of his mechanical hands nearly got stuck between Cloud and a wall.

When the hitchhiked ride was over, and Cloud and Cid had put him down to sit on one of the sofa's, he was left quite dazed. The pair of them had even asked if they could tie up his restraint again, and Nero had asked them to do so.

Lying down it was easier for him to have them free, but sitting up required him to tense his shoulders to hold them up too much. As they had been set in a cast, he also couldn't stretch them out like he usually did. He thanked them for helping him out, and both Cid and Cloud shrugged his thanks off with a 'no prob'.

Then, they too sat down. Vincent and Yuffie had already settled, the ninja -not surprisingly- next to Nero.

A bit of a silence came over the group again, and after Shera had come in with a tray of tea and biscuits and whatnot she could come up with, Nero knew what he was expected to do.

He cast a last thorough look at them all, and began his 'story'.

The only story he knew.

-------

R&R please, don't give up on me (yet) XD

ps: this won't be a Nero X Yuffie, honestly. She's just the only one capable of calming him down right now, and he trusts her.


End file.
